Endgame
by Revanant Dragoon
Summary: After being submerged in the Sea of Dirac, Shinji emerges in a world very unlike the one he left…and what on Earth's a Dorem, anyway? [Crossover: RahXephon]
1. Through the Belly of the Beast

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

**Endgame**

Through the Belly of the Beast

Ikari Shinji was floating through space. Or whatever else could describe this place inside the Twelfth Angel. Although considering the fact that there was absolutely nothing around him, space just about summed it up. Wait, was this maybe the Angel's stomach. _Does this mean they literally have bottomless pits for stomachs?_

Shinji shook his head as he remembered how he wound up here. He had, stupidly, decided to jump into the battle before everyone was ready—although he had to wonder if he would have still wound up inside the void of the Angel's 'belly' or wherever he was if he had waited.

_It's so quiet._ Shinji thought to himself. And it was. He was floating through a formless void. There was nothing in any direction. Just blank white. The emptiness was painfully oppressive.

He was alone. Shinji couldn't help but chuckle darkly.

'_I always wanted to be alone. But now that I am—completely—I can't stand it.'_

He leaned back and tried to think of a way out of his predicament.

Nothing came to him. Shinji sighed and slumped in his seat.

Then his world exploded in pain.

* * *

"_Brethren, I have done it."_

"_What is that, Hermanubis? Might I add that I still think it ridiculous that you insist on that moniker?"_

"_That is fine, Aeternitas. I find it fitting. And I have dealt with that purple-colored nuisance."_

"_What? How? That mockery bested Morrigu, Ketea, Daramulum, Janus, and Vishnu in combat! You could never hope to match it in battle!"_

"_Whoever said that I bested the pestilence in combat, Mamaragan?"_

"_Perhaps it would be best if you told us _what_ you did, Hermanubis, instead of taunting your brethren."_

"_Ah, of course Eupatridae-Loki. I've sent the spiteful construct from this realm."_

"…_Do you mean to say that you sent the imitation _there_?"_

"_Yes, Eupatridae-Loki."_

"_YOU FOOL! What were you THINKING? Sending a monstrosity that bears _our_ secrets through the Barrier? You—"_

"_That is enough, Draug."_

"WHAT_?! Don't tell me you're standing up for him, Loki!"_

"_I said, _that's enough _Draug. Do not make me tell you again."_

"…_yes, Loki."_

"_And I never said I was standing up for Hermanubis."_

"…"

"_What you did was foolish, little brother. There are valuable secrets hidden in that beast, Hermanubis. Secrets about _us._ Should the enemy realize it, they would be in a perfect situation to capitalize on your blunder and find countermeasures for our weapons, while _we_ still know nothing about _them_."_

"…_I thought it would give us the opportunity we seek to exterminate the enemy. _It_ has almost single-handedly staved off our efforts. Without _It_, the Lilim will crumble and we will reach our goals."_

"…_True. But it will have to be done swiftly. And Aeternitas, begin awakening the second generation, just in case."_

"_Yes, Rex Loki."

* * *

_

Shinji sat alone on the train. A blood-red sunset peered in from the window in front of him. He frowned slightly. There was something vaguely _wrong_ about this place. And his head was throbbing with pain. Wasn't he supposed to be somewhere else?

"_Ah, but you are somewhere else, Shinji-kun._" A melodious voice trailed out. Shinji stiffened as he saw two people sitting in front of him. One was a four year old boy whose eyes held wisdom well beyond his years. The other was a girl in her early teens with pale gray hair and bright green eyes.

She smiled at him gently, and Shinji felt a disturbing familiarity rising up in him. It felt like he should know her, and more importantly, fear her. But he couldn't remember _why_. But there was _something_ about those _eyes_. Why the hell couldn't he remember? He winced as another tendril of pain laced through his mind.

_Shinji felt the darkness slowly recede from his eyes. He glanced around, completely nonplussed. He was still in the entry plug, but the last thing that he remembered was Sachiel wailing away at his—no, the Eva's head._

'_Did I die?'_

_As if on command the plug fully reactivated. Before Shinji could take a good look at his surroundings, motion at his peripheral vision drew his attention_. _But, before he could try to identify what moved, the mask covering the Evangelion's head fell off, landing with a loud crash on the ground._

_Shinji blinked. 'The covering came off?' Suddenly curious, he glanced over at the skyscraper that stood next to him. After all, hadn't Doctor Akagi mentioned that the Eva was _biomechanical_? Shinji suddenly had visions of an Eva-sized cyborg, like that one in the movie he saw. Termina-something-or-other. Unfortunately, what he saw was completely like what he thought it would be. _

_What he saw would haunt him for life._

_A fleshy, skull-like head poked out of the armor covering the Evangelion's jaw and neck. Where its eye should have been was simply an empty socket. Then flesh began bubbling out of the void, quickly forming eyelids. It opened, revealing a piercing green eye where a gaping socket was. But that wasn't what really frightened him._

_It was the fact that the…_thing…_was looking through the reflection _at him._ It's gaze probed his soul, thrown out for the creature to see. And Shinji swore he felt _hunger_ lingering in its Cyclopean eye._

_As its stare burned through his core, Shinji screamed._

Shinji jerked back, falling out of his chair onto the floor.

"Y-yo-you!" He gasped, staring at the girl. "You'r-re Unit 01?" The avatar of his behemoth steed smiled at him. The boy turned and looked up at her as she continued to cradle him in her lap.

"O-nee-chan? Is _that_ really me?" Shinji blinked. Had that kid just said…

The aforementioned kid shot a glare at the pilot. "Yes, I'm you."

The human mind is famous for being able to handle unbelievable amounts of stress. Instead of cracking under the pressure, which many people would expect when observing the unfolding events, the mind rises above it. Shinji's behavior up until this point is proof positive of this, as he had not turned into a nervous wreck after all these months. Unfortunately, every man has a breaking point. Shinji just reached his.

"Wh-wh-wha-what the HELL?!" Shinji screamed. "Where the hell am I? Who the hell are you people?" The boy—no, his younger self seemed somewhat disturbed and faintly disgusted at his outburst. The Evangelion however, continued smiling at him as if he didn't say anything at all. He started shaking uncontrollably. This was just too damn much.

"_Your mind is an unusual thing, Shinji-kun. Never before in my…well, limited experiences have I met someone with such broken self-perceptions."_

Shinji shivered. He knew not to trust her. He knew not to listen. But her voice slid through his defenses, burning themselves into his consciousness. Yet it felt as gentle as the kiss of a summer's breeze. His mind screamed at him to get the Hell away. Nothing ever came from the Evangelion except pain and suffering. He _knew _that. But why the hell was he relaxing at the sound of her voice?! He wanted to scream in frustration, but his voice refused to work.

The avatar nudged the little boy off her lap and stood up, towering over Shinji, who had not even bothered getting off the floor. She walked over and knelt in front of him, so that they were eye-to-eye.

"_So many of you exist…but there is no _you_."_

He blinked, his mind distracted from his internal ramblings by the non- sequitur. What the hell was that supposed to mean? The pain in his skull pulsed again, then images began to float up in his mind. Images of _him_.

"_The Ikari Shinji in Katsuragi Misato's mind."_

He saw himself, alone and vulnerable, standing at the railway platform. He saw the demonic Evangelion lunging forward, allowing itself to be impaled by the glowing tentacles of Shamshel, the Fourth Angel, so that it could destroy the invader. He saw himself rousing a drunken Misato and helping her into her room.

"_The Ikari Shinji in Suzuhara Touji's mind."_

Shinji saw himself taking the punch unflinchingly from a raging Touji. He saw himself take the symbiotic pain in the entry plug before stabbing the Fourth Angel in the core. He saw himself laughing alongside Touji and Kensuke as they walked from school.

"_The Ikari Shinji in Ayanami Rei's mind."_

Shinji saw himself ripping open the hatch to the entry plug and peering inside, concern etched into his face, only to have that image superimposed—briefly—by an image of the Commander standing just as he was. He saw himself declaring his mistrust of the Commander's motives. He saw himself trying to speak to Rei while the rest of the world averted their eyes as she passed.

"_The Ikari Shinji in your father's mind."_

He saw a brown haired woman carrying a newborn boy, exuding warmth and caring, while her husband stood off to the side outside the warmth. Shinji saw a little boy standing on the sidewalk, crying out to an older man who ignored the child. He saw a teenager who flinched whenever the older man passed.

"_There are many more like this. They are perceptions of you. But for all these perceptions, one is missing. The most important perception."_ The girl cocked her head, looking inquisitively at Shinji. _"Tell me, do you know where it is? The _true_ Ikari Shinji—the Ikari Shinji within his own mind?"_ Shinji frowned at her, his fear forgotten for the moment. Why the hell was that the most important?

The Evangelion, as if reading his mind, raised her hand palm up and held it in front of his eyes. He tensed up for a moment, his paranoia resurfacing. When the avatar didn't move from where she was standing, he let himself relax. Slightly. His eyes focused on what was lying in the center of her hand.

A diamond.

"_Imagine a person is like a diamond, Shinji-kun. Each facet is someone else's perception of you. Each side captures a part of your personality, as seen by another. However, it is your actual personality that is the glue, the underlying structure that holds all the facets together. Without that…"_ The diamond, as if on command, dissolved into sand.

"_If you concern yourself only with how others see you, there shall be nothing to you. Just a void where a great man should be."_ Shinji flinched and looked at the ground.

"I'm not a 'great man'. I—" The avatar laughed.

"_Of course you're not."_ He blinked at this. Was he supposed to be relieved by that fact or insulted? Shinji decided to settle for being very confused. _"You're not because you choose to obsess over what everyone thinks about you. You want to keep everyone from hating you. But you cannot succeed, and thus you become a void."_ She leaned in very close to Shinji's face. His nervousness returned in spades, battling with the soothing tones of her voice. He wanted to crawl away, put space between the two of them, but he couldn't move. He couldn't turn away from her emerald eyes. He could feel her breath washing over him, sending tingling sensations across his body.

"_There will always be those that hate you, Shinji-kun. You can't control that. But you can control _why_ they hate you."_ She moved even closer, so that she was practically lying on top of him. _"If they must hate you, make them hate you for what you have done, instead of what you refrained from doing."_ A mocking smile graced her lips. _"Now, that doesn't give you full license to do whatever you want. But whatever you do, _don't_ make people hating you the deciding factor. And remember, no matter what you do, even though some will hate you, there are those that love you."_

At the last statement Shinji froze. Love him? Who the hell would love him? And what the hell would a goddamn Evangelion know about it? All the damn thing brought him was _pain. _Was she taunting him? There was a burning in his gut that made him want to scream. Was the blasted thing playing with him? Why the _fuck_ would it say something like that?

"How the hell do you know?" Shinji whispered harshly. The Evangelion smiled again.

"_I know because I have seen your memories, Shinji-kun."_ She chuckled as shock and horror made their presence known on his visage. _"What else do you think happens when we sync? And as for those who care about you, why else do you think that your guardian keeps you around? Why do all those people at NERV do everything in their power to keep you safe? They _care _about you, Shinji-kun."_ She looked him in the eye, pinning him where he sat. Although he wouldn't have been able to move anyway. Memories flickered forward in his mind, images of Misato, Maya, Aoba…they went on and on. They all cared about him. That was true. But _love _him?

A single image arose in his mind, stronger and clearer than anything else he had experienced. He saw Misato standing by her car, looking at him. Her smile; small, understated, and warm. _'Welcome home._' Two words he'd wanted to hear for years.

The avatar watched as Shinji's expressions swung from disbelief, to remembrance, to doubt, to acceptance. Then she delivered the final blow.

"_And they trust you."_ Shinji's developing good mood evaporated like a snowflake in Hell as he felt like he had been punched in the stomach. They trusted _him?_ They trusted the coward? The ignorant fool who trembled before an opponent, who could not even stand up for himself in front of that _thing_ that he called a father? That's who they trusted?

"_Of course, you realize that by running away, by giving in, by refusing to face your problems, you betray that trust? You hurt them by turning away."_ The fist in his stomach had become a knife twisting in his abdomen, cutting and slashing through him. As the knife continued to twist, his frustration built. He had wanted to turn away from the fear, but he couldn't. They knew that and they _still_ trusted him. Why?

_Why?_

_WHY?_

"Why?" He hissed out to the world, his eyes clenched shut, not caring who heard. "I'm so afraid all the time. Everyone else is so brave. Why would they trust a coward like me?" The pain in his head throbbed again. His eyes jerked open again as cold fingers stroked his cheek.

The Evangelion was hovering over him once again. He shied away from her fingertips, unnerved by the contact. Her smile took on a sadder shade as he did this, but otherwise she made no acknowledgement of his action.

"_Who said anything about fear causing cowardice?"_ Shinji opened his mouth to prove the point, but fell silent as the avatar laid a single finger on his lips. _"The presence of fear proves nothing, Shinji-kun."_ She paused, as if considering it. _"Well, it does prove you're sane."_ Seeing Shinji's confused look, she smiled and elaborated.

"_Fear is a natural reaction. _Everyone _feels it, even that purple-haired woman you live with. It's how you deal with that fear that determines whether you're a coward or not. And when it really counts, how often do you run away?"_ He frowned, running through his memory. Before he could respond, the avatar cut him off. _"You never have. So enough of this talk of cowardice."_ He stared at her with wide eyes. He had never actually thought of it that way. An unknown feeling bloomed inside of him as he considered that. It took a moment for him to recognize it as _hope_.

Shinji then grimaced as his headache reasserted itself in his skull. "What the _hell's_ up with this headache?" He grumbled to himself. Then he caught sight of the avatar's slightly guilty smile, and worry started burrowing in his gut. "What are you doing to me?"

"_What's necessary, Shinji-kun. There will be many battles ahead, and you will need more knowledge than you already have."_ Shinji frowned at her. What kind of knowledge? As if hearing his thoughts—which Shinji suspected she actually could—she clarified herself. _"You know how to move my body, but you do not know how to _use_ me. Do not worry. You will understand with the passage of time."_

Shinji started to protest, but was overridden by the Evangelion. _"You will remember what was said here, won't you?"_ How the hell could he not? The knowledge that all those people had their trust in _him_ was not something he could easily forget. Not to mention that his fear was _natural_, of all things.

No, he was not going to forget this for a long time—if ever.

The Evangelion flashed a smile at him, affirming his suspicions about her mind-reading abilities. But after a moment of consideration, he figured that he just might have a _really _bad poker face. He wasn't sure which. Either way he figured it would be best to answer the question, even if she already knew what it was.

"I will."

"_Good. But, just to make sure…"_ Shinji's eyes bugged out as the avatar leaned in and claimed his lips in a searing kiss. As the Evangelion started to probe inside his mouth, he faded from view, leaving the avatar, looking somewhat put-out, and the little boy alone on the train. After a moment, the boy spoke up.

"I cannot believe that I was that easily manipulated. And did you HAVE to kiss me?" The Evangelion turned to him.

"_Oh, hush you. It's in our best interests."_ She told him playfully. Then she blushed slightly. _"And yes, yes I did."

* * *

_

Captain Miwa Shinobu liked to consider herself unflappable. After all, she had barely batted an eye during the Olin's escape and her quick thinking nearly prevented it. Granted, that wasn't nearly enough to brag about but it was a helluva lot better than anyone else. Excluding Lady Maya, of course, but Shinobu was convinced that the woman didn't have emotions. At all.

But the captain was always on top of things. Always with a cool head. She could discern what was happening in the most chaotic of environments and make efforts to halt them. She was imperturbable.

…Until now.

The sirens were blaring all around her, flashing like strobe lights. She glanced around her, trying to understand what was happening. She had never seen anything like this. _What the hell's going on?!_

She ran down the hall to the main control room. The fool Kuki was already there, trying to access some program. While the man was her superior, he was completely inept when it came to computers in every way shape and form. So she didn't hesitate to sprint over to the console and shove the man out of the way before diving into the console herself.

Her fingers pounded across the keyboard, calling up graphs, images, anything that could answer the question of what just happened. Finally she found her answer…and stared at the screen, in transfixed disbelief.

"Captain Miwa!" A scream sounded in her ears. Jerking, she turned her gaze and saw Lady Maya glaring balefully at her. She winced inwardly, realizing that the Lady had been calling her for some time, but didn't let it show.

"Yes, Lady Maya?" Her superior's glare lessened.

"Report." Miwa nodded, called up several graphs, and began her explanation.

"Less than ten minutes ago, the spectrograph array picked up a large energy wave emanating from Outpost A-14. The wave was followed by multiple smaller pulses, increasing in frequency to the point where, currently, they are coming in a continuous stream." The Lady Kamina gave her a look that screamed 'How the hell is that supposed to help me?' Then Miwa dropped the bombshell.

"More significantly, the nature of the wave is remarkably similar to the Omega-12 sound-wave." Lady Kamina paled significantly. Kuki's jaw dropped. Both of them looked like someone struck them upside the head with a rather solid two-by-four. Miwa stood there and enjoyed the fearful look for once gracing the commanding officer's porcelain features.

Surprisingly Kuki shook himself out of his daze first. His brow furrowed. Miwa could practically see the gears turning in his head.

"How is this possible? The only Omega-12 we've ever encountered was when the RahXephon was escaping through the time-dilation field." Miwa loved getting one-up on Kuki, and would have been grinning from ear to ear if the situation were different. As it was, she continued with the explanation.

"While I said the energy wave was similar to the Omega-12, I never said that it _was_ an Omega-12." Lady Maya shook herself out of her funk at this.

"How is it different?"

"Well, as far as we can tell, it's made of raw energy. And it has to be at least a hundred times more powerful than the Omega-12." Her explanation was cut off then by another alarm. Miwa whirled and dove back at the keyboard. A few seconds later the alarm cut off and Miwa visibly stiffened. "Ma'am, we have a visual image from Outpost A-14."

A screen flickered to life, and everyone in the control room gasped. In the center of the outpost was what seemed to be a portal of darkness. It seemed to fill the entire sky. As they watched in horror, _something_ emerged from it. A horned, dark purple head was revealed first, its jaw set in a mad grin.

The rest of the creature followed quickly. Strange, jutting wing-like fixtures on its shoulders; a metallic armor coating its entire body; and what looked like either a tail or a…power cord. The portal disappeared behind the being, severing the thing dragging behind it. The shower of electrical sparks confirmed that it was a power cord.

The creature's eyes glowed for a moment before fading. Then it slumped lifelessly to the ground.

The control room was silent for a moment, and then the sounds of a phone being grabbed frantically filled it. Miwa tore her eyes away from the screen and saw Lady Kamina, looking more confused and frightened than the captain could ever remember, dialing like a madman.

"Hello? I need to speak with Him. Immediately. It's an emergency, damnit! That's why!"

* * *

Shinji gasped as he felt himself in the entry plug of the Evangelion once more. The pain in his head had lessened to a faint throbbing in the back of his skull. He ignored it and focused on syncing with the gigantic Evangelion. There was a swirl of colors, and then he saw outside the beast.

Nothing but blank white. Shinji let out an explosive sigh and collapsed back into his seat, cutting the connection with the behemoth. Was all that with the Evangelion just a dream? And if it was, then why were his lips tingling as if he was still being kissed? For some reason, he really hoped that it wasn't just a deam.

He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that he felt something…amused in the back of his mind when he thought that. He shook himself mentally.

Okay, _now_ he was imagining things. It was at that point that the entry plug shook violently. _What the hell?_ Flipping switches like a madman, Shinji managed to sync with the Evangelion. What he saw both filled him with hope and scared the shit out of him.

There was a black nimbus cloud condensing in front of him. And it was growing closer by the second. Shinji tried to move the giant beast, but his attempts had no effect. Then before he could react any further, the cloud was upon him.

He jerked as his vision went black. He shuddered as tendrils of cold wormed their way into his core. Then he threw his arms over his eyes as blinding light poured into the plug. A moment later the pilot realized that he was standing on solid ground, and slowly pulled his forearm away from his face.

'_Oh hell. We aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto._' Shinji thought as he looked across the landscape before him. There was not a single thing that Shinji could recognize. There was no sign of any skyscrapers, E-lift shafts, or anything else that would signal his presence at Tokyo 3. The buildings that were there reminded Shinji of army barracks. The ground was completely flat around him, forming hills off by the horizon. Definitely not Tokyo-3.

He gulped as he felt his guts clench. That was not a good sign by any means. He was God-knows-where in an Evangelion, one of the most volatile and divisive things in existence, with next to no power. _'Shit.'_ He started wracking his brains for ways out of this mess. He quickly narrowed it down to one possibility: contact the military wherever he was and hope they could help him.

Shinji lunged at the controls and started hailing on any channel he could. It only took a moment for him to locate a channel.

"He—hello?" He called out hesitantly. Then he ground his teeth at how timid he sounded.

'_It's how you deal with that fear that determines whether you're a coward or not,'_ the avatar had told him. It was high time that he started dealing with that fear. "Hello!" He called out again, much more clearly. Moments later, a fearful reply came over the radio. Shinji blinked. Wasn't he supposed to be the frightened one?

But, then again, whoever it was that answered probably wasn't used to gigantic purple robots dropping out of the sky. A screen flickered to life in front of him. He saw a nervous looking technician peering at him.

"Wh-who are you?" The technician stuttered out.

"Ikari Shinji. Look, can you tell me where I am?"

"What are y-your allegiances?" Shinji blinked. _'The hell?'_ He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. His guts clenched even tighter than before.

"I work for NERV, it that's what you mean."

The technician stared at him like he had grown another head.

"NERV? What the hell's that?" He asked, seeming to get over his earlier fright. The clenching sensation in Shinji's stomach amplified. He was aware that, for a top-secret organization, NERV was very well known, especially after the Angel attacks started.

"The organization built to combat the Angels." Shinji explained. He didn't think that it was possible, but the technician seemed even more nonplussed than before.

"Angels?" The fist in Shinji's gut was growing painful now. This was not going to end well. Not at all.

* * *

An older man sat alone in a darkened room. A bright red sigil was emblazoned on the floor beneath him. A door opened, casting a pale sliver of light on his wrinkled face.

A blonde woman stood before him, her expression one of cool indifference. However, the man knew her far too long to be fooled by her look. Subtle offsets in her posture screamed out at him. Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

"Yes, Helena? What is it?"

"Something's come up, sir." An ancient bushy brow rose at that statement. They had planned out every possible contingency—so what could have arisen that required his personal attention?

"And what is that?" For the first time in many years, Helena openly showed uncertainty. The sense that something was wrong was now screaming in his ears.

"I'm afraid I can't explain it, sir. It's something you'll just have to see." The old man frowned.

"Very well."

"Lady Kamina is on line five." Helena walked over to him and seized the handles of the wheelchair he was seated in. She then turned him and pushed him over to the desk in the corner of the room. The old man paused for a moment to admire the machine that sat upon the desk. It was one of his more subtle creations. He had found a way to force a Dorem into an alternate dimension, which incidentally inspired the Jupiter time-dilation field. It was a remarkably easy matter to hook up a radio connection between the Dorem and himself, and then bouncing the signal into Tokyo-3, avoiding all difficulties in communications.

He leaned forward and flipped several switches. A screen flickered to life before the two of them, showing pure pandemonium. His eyes focused upon the woman standing in the forefront. Kamina jerked into a stiff salute as she noticed that the screen had activated.

"What's the situation?" He couldn't help but notice that the woman seemed rather rattled. The aged man frowned internally. Kamina _never_ showed any emotion. His sense of foreboding increased tremendously.

"Twenty minutes ago our sensors picked up an energy reading similar to an Omega-12 sound-wave located in Outpost A-14. The wave increased in oscillation until the point where it came as a continuous stream. That occurred ten minutes ago. Eight minutes ago, a…anomaly occurred." The old man stiffened. _'Anomaly? Could it…no, it couldn't be that.'_

"A black…portal of sorts opened in the center of the outpost. And…" She seemed to struggle with what to say. After a moment, she shook herself and tried to regain control. "And something emerged from the portal. We assume that it is some kind of robot." She saw him raise his eyebrows in question and shook her head. "I can't begin to explain, so it would be best if you saw it for yourself."

The screen flickered for a moment and then the aged man was looking at a behemoth straight out of some child's nightmare.

The…thing (for he refused to call it a robot) was dark purple, interspersed with lurid green stripes. It seemed to tower over the bunkers built onto the hillside, leering at them with its death's-head-grin carved into the armor on its head. The wheel-chair bound man felt a chill of recognition race down his spine. There was a familiarity towards the monstrosity. But it was not benevolent. Every instinct screamed at him to destroy it, the soft breathy voice that existed in the back of his mind told him not to trust this creature, this…traitor…

The man grew aware of the fact that the Lady Kamina was speaking again.

"—ve made contact with the pilot and he's—well, he's not making any sense. He keeps talking about this NERV organization and Angels." The man frowned.

"Is there any connection to TERRA?"

"No, sir. It seems that he was completely unaware of its existence."

"What about the 'Angels' he mentioned?" Lady Kamina paused for a moment.

"Truth be told, sir, what he said didn't make much sense. One thing that stuck out was this 'AT field' that he kept mentioning. It evidentially shields these 'Angels' from all conventional weaponry, and the only capable of penetrating this shield is another 'AT field'…Sir?" Kamina prompted, worry clear in her tone.

Her superior jerked to attention, looking more frightened than he ever had before. His face was disturbingly pale and his hands were trembling. The old man's brows furrowed.

"Destroy that abomination immediately! No questions!" Kamina blinked and stared for a moment before nodding her assent. Then the monitor blinked off, leaving the aged man to his thoughts.

_Has it begun? Has their invasion started?

* * *

_

Shinji jerked as the intercom went dead. He leapt at the switches sitting in front of him, trying to re-establish contact. All that he found was dead air, the crackling hiss hanging ominously in his ears. He sat back in his seat, worry gnawing his insides.

The technician he first spoke to had been replaced by a hardened military officer. The man had promptly started demanding information from the young Eva pilot. It had taken every ounce of self-control he had not to break down in terror of the man. But now the officer had cut off all contact. _'Something's wrong.'_

Acting on the growing feeling of dread in his stomach, he synced with his monstrous steed. And started swearing as he saw tanks, rocket launchers and other military weapons he didn't recognize begin to draw a bead on him. He desperately shoved open his AT field as the army opened fire.

Elvy Hadhiyat really hated being right sometimes. Not because she was some prophetic Cassandra-type. Nope, she hated being right because she always got the ideas right…and the details completely wrong.

Case in point, the three D-1s that were bearing down on her along with a decent-sized conventional army contingent. Oh, and did she mention the fact that her gun had jammed?

Some days it really sucked to be her.

She shoved on the yokes of the controls and forced the Vermillion out of the line of fire. Again. The roar of artillery filtered through the mech's auditory systems and the Indonesian woman swore under her breath. How the hell did she manage to get herself into this mess again? Oh wait, that's right, she literally _asked_ for it.

"_Commander." Elvy called out as she stalked down the halls. Her quarry for the past half-hour halted and looked back._

"_Yes, Lieutenant?" Commander Kunugi held a placid look on his face, much like the expression someone wore when dealing with an incredibly irate child. Elvy couldn't blame him, though. She definitely hadn't been the most cooperative person around recently._

"_Sir, permission to speak freely?" He didn't respond at first, but then he slowly nodded his head. "I was thinking…we've been acting rather reactively recently." The Commander raised a brow at that comment. "I mean, we're just sitting on our asses waiting for the Mu to send another D-1 to attack us." Now Kunugi's face darkened visibly._

'_Oh shit. Think fast before he blows you off!'_

"_Not that we're doing poorly, sir. It's just that our luck is bound to run out some time." The Commander's face cleared at this. Somewhat. "So I was thinking, now that we have the Vermillion, why not _use _it? Strike them for once, I mean." Her superior stood there for a moment, scrutinizing her. Then:_

"_I assume that you're referring to the Moons?" Elvy's eyes narrowed involuntarily at the mention of the most recent development in the war against the Murians._

They_ had decided to gain further footholds in the world, and had set up outposts shielded by the same time-dilation field that held Tokyo Jupiter prisoner. There had been no warning, no indication of _their_ plans. The fields just appeared one day. Elvy was pretty sure that, if _they_ felt the need, the Murians could snatch Kunugi bald without him even realizing it._

"_Yes sir, I am. I've done some investigating and it seems that radio traffic between known Murian outposts _always _increases dramatically whenever the RahXephon is heavily involved in a sortie against one of the D-1s. However, in the few sorties we've had against the D-1s not involving the RahXephon there's absolutely no change in radio contact._

"_So I was thinking, sir, that as the Murians seem excessively obsessed with the RahXephon, we have it feint an attack one of the closer Moons, like Ganymede. While they throw a fit about the attack, I take the Vermillion and wipe out one of the more distant Moons, such as Io."_

_The Commander stared at her for a long moment. Elvy found herself resisting the temptation to scuffle her feet against the floor like a little girl. Then, finally, Kunugi spoke._

"_Are you sure about this? Using the kid as bait?" Elvy felt her face shut down at the reference to Ayato. Her reaction to Ayato's Murian blood had become the fabled elephant in the living room. The boy had even taken to avoiding everyone in the base. Haruka was quickly growing frantic at his behavior, believing that he was angry at _her_. And Elvy had heard of a betting pool on when she was going to snap and beat the kid to a pulp._

"_With all due respect sir, he's been through much worse than what this plan entails. And this time he'll have back-up." She gave a self-depreciating grin. "If anything, sir, I'm the one at risk."_

Of course, looking back Elvy figured she had jinxed herself with that cocky utterance. She prayed inwardly that the rest of her team had not run into similar defenses.

A strangle, lilting sound shook her out of her reminiscence. She shoved on the yokes once more, launching out of the way of the D-1's attack. She moved not a second too soon as her cover was annihilated by the sound-wave. Unfortunately the dodge brought her right into the path of another D-1. It was a gigantic creature, with arms as long as its body and fists as wide as its torso.

And it was winding up one hell of a haymaker.

* * *

Shinji let out a sigh of relief as he realized that he was fine. He brought the behemoth to its feet, planning to get the hell out of there. However, his plans were altered as something connected with him. _Hard._

It felt like a mountain had decided to broadside him, Shinji decided as he flew through the air. It was then that he heard a strange thrumming sound. Before it could fully register what that might mean, something connected with him again. He gasped as all the air was driven from his chest.

Shinji hit the ground painfully and rolled back to his feet. There, floating a few hundred yards away was the strangest thing he had ever seen. And, considering the fact that he had spent the last several months fighting aliens with an obsession with Tokyo-3 inside a gigantic biomechanical monster that clearly had a mind of its own, that was saying something.

The _thing_ was slightly shorter than the Evangelion. It seemed to hover in place above a group of army barracks. Its body was strangely abstract, as if someone had snuck into a museum and stolen a piece of modern art, made it over eighty feet tall and brought it to life. However, what caught his attention was the head of the creature. There was a crown of sorts resting on its forehead, shielding its eyes. The rest of the head was clearly feminine in form, actually reminding him of Misato a bit.

However, his observations were cut short as the thing opened its mouth. Shinji had a moment to recognize the noise as the strange thrumming sound from the last time he was struck, before whatever the creature was using to attack him impacted against his torso again, sending him sprawling on his back. _'Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit, shitshitshitshit!'_

Panic was beginning to flood his veins. What the hell was this thing? Was it an Angel? Was it a part of this army? Why was it attacking him? Thousands of questions and scenarios ran through his head, as his breath began coming in quick, unsteady gasps.

'_It's how you deal with the fear that decides whether or not you're a coward.'_

Shinji took a deep breath, trying to get his rattled nerves under control. Unfortunately he took too much time doing so and the creature landed another blow on him, sending him head over heels. This time as he rolled up he keyed the release of the progressive knife. Pulling it from its sheath, he took another breath and lunged forward at the floating art-exhibit. He launched himself into the air, sailing straight into the creature, which tried—far too late—to dodge.

He swung his arm down on its head, the blade sinking deep into the creature's forehead. The _thing_ screamed in agony as he tightened his grip on the knife and dragged it down to its chin. He paused for a moment when he realized that it was still screaming. He quickly yanked out the weapon before swinging it horizontally across its shoulders, separating its head from its neck.

His opponent collapsed onto the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, Shinji falling with it. He leapt back up, looking for both more threats and a way out of the place.

An explosion rang out across the country-side. Shinji turned to see smoke rising from the hills. As he squinted his eyes he saw a blood-red mech flying around, pursued by creatures similar to the one he had just decapitated. The bodies of the creatures were radically different, but they all had the strange crowns and feminine faces. The red robot jerked between them, trying to evade their attacks. An odd saying he had heard floated to the forefront of his mind.

'_The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'_

Shinji's eyes flickered to the power-readout to the right. A little over four minutes. _'Crap.'_ His skull pulsed painfully, and then his hands flew out towards the dashboard in front of him. In moments he had opened a panel he never noticed before and had disconnected several wires before reconnecting them in an entirely different sequence. The readout quickly scaled to twenty minutes. Shinji knew instinctively that after the timer was up, however, he was _screwed,_ no ifs ands or buts Then he paused.

How the _hell_ did he know how to do that? It felt like his hands had moved on their own. It made no sense! Then his head throbbed again and a piece of his 'conversation' with the Evangelion emerged from his memory.

'_You know how to move my body, but you do not know how to _use_ me.'_

Was this what she meant? Did she somehow _give_ him this knowledge? Why? And more importantly, _how_? Did she enter his mind? Did she invade the absolute last sanctuary Shinji had? He tried to move his hands to run them through his hair to find that only his left hand obeyed his mental command. His right hand was still clenched tightly around the joystick.

What the hell? He tried to unclench his fist, but it wouldn't respond. His brow furrowing, he tried again. It was after the fifth time that he realized that his forearm was repeatedly contracting. On a hunch, Shinji tried to relax his entire body. Soon his hand released the joystick. Massaging his forearm, he frowned thoughtfully.

An explosion caught his attention. One of the creatures had destroyed the cover the robot was using, and the red mech was flying straight into a set-up. _'Looks like it's time to step in.'_ with that, Shinji tore off after the mech and his only hope for an ally.

'_Mustn't run away. Mustn't run away…'

* * *

_

'_Fuck!'_ Elvy swore mentally, trying to maneuver her way out of the D-1's reach. However, the D-1 decided to vacate the area. Or rather, something else decided that for the Murian weapon. Elvy saw a purplish blur slam into the giant, and then they were both gone.

Curiosity overcoming her better senses, which were screaming at her to get the hell out of Dodge City, she turned to see her rescuer. She saw a purple behemoth rolling off the D-1, dragging something through its torso. She fought the impulse to rub her eyes as she saw it was a gigantic _bowie knife_.

Then she gave into the impulse as she got a good look at the…thing's head. A grinning metal death mask leered at her as the D-1 collapsed into two severed pieces. Elvy started reaching for the trigger of the Vermillion, so she could blast this…whatever-the-hell-it-was into orbit if it tried anything, when the creature held up its hands in submission.

Elvy stopped, rather thrown. It was surrendering? Did that mean that it was on her side? That it was just hunting D-1s? What the hell was going on? A beeping went off on her right side. She jerked in surprise and turned to the dashboard, making sure to keep the purple creature in her line of sight—just in case.

She had received a hail from an unrecognized source. The radio crackled for a moment.

"Need any help?" Came a somewhat-hesitant question.

"What the hell?" She murmured under her breath. Her entire focus was now on the dashboard. After a few moments of hesitation she flipped a switch and responded.

"Who is this?" There was a long pause before the voice responded.

"The pilot of the big purple mech in front of you. And an ally." Elvy blinked and then checked her scope to make sure that the…mech was still in her sights.

"That's it? That's all the explanation you're gonna give me? And you expect me to believe that?" If she didn't know any better, she would have sworn that the purple behemoth flinched. Or shrugged. She wasn't sure. But either way it was impossible.

"Sorry, but you probably won't believe anything else I tell you. I'm short on time too." Elvy didn't lower the gun at all.

"And why wouldn't I believe you?" This time she was sure the thing shrugged. Then she saw the Dorem floating behind the leering beast, aiming at it.

* * *

Shinji paused for a moment, trying to decide what to say. It wasn't easy as his gut instinct was screaming at him to get away from the crazy pilot woman before she pulled an Asuka and beat on his ass. Then he heard something behind him. A moment later he recognized it as the blasted thrumming noise those _things_ made before they attacked. Acting on instincts honed by months of training in Tokyo-3, he whipped around and spread his A.T. field, shielding both himself and the other pilot.

The blast itself was halted by the field. However, Shinji could still feel his teeth rattle as the sound wave passed through him. Then the radio crackled to life, and the other pilot shouted across it.

"Holy crap! How the hell'd you do that?"

"A.T. Field." Shinji responded automatically. He paused for a moment as he belatedly realized that the woman didn't know what an A.T. Field was. He spared a glance at the power-readout.

Fifteen minutes left.

'_Fuck.'_

"Is this…ah…A.T. field one of those things I wouldn't believe?" Seeing no reason to lie, he responded with an affirmative. His eyes narrowed as the creature started moving again.

"I see. Okay, I'll buy the whole 'won't believe me even if I tell you' thing—for now. Now, why are you my ally?" The other pilot questioned. "And what's this about limited time?" Shinji shifted his grip on the knife as he thought about the answer. He decided it would be best if he stuck to the truth.

"I'm your ally because we're both fighting against those things. And I have an internal battery that has fifteen—" He glanced at the power-readout again and swore, "_fourteen_ minutes left." There was a slight pause, and then the other pilot spoke up.

"What's your name?"

"Ikari Shinji. Yours?"

"Elvy Hadhiyat. Ple—shit!" The other pilot, Hadhiyat, cut herself off as the creature charged in. There was a cracking sound behind him as Hadhiyat opened fire on it. The creature drifted away from the fire and right into the waiting arms of Unit One. Shinji wrapped the Evangelion's arms around its torso, and planted the unit's booted feet on the creature's lower body. He then pivoted and drove the knife into its chest with the unit's right arm and seized the beast's chin with its left, and started pulling. With a smooth tug its head flew off and fell to the ground behind it.

Shinji dropped to the ground as the decapitated creature collapsed and rolled up into a crouch. He barely had time to smile in vicious satisfaction before Hadhiyat shouted for him to move. Not bothering to question her statement, he dove as the other pilot opened fire.

As he got up, he glanced over his shoulder to see another creature, standing just behind where he was before Hadhiyat's warning, swaying on its feet and riddled with bullet-holes. It collapsed in a boneless heap as the radio crackled.

"You're not bad Ikari." There was a long pause. "You from TERRA?" Shinji blinked. _'Huh?'_

"Uh, I've never heard of it."

"…you serious? Then why'd you help me?" Shinji thought about it for a moment, absently popping his neck as he felt the adrenaline drain out of him.

"…uh, 'enemy of my enemy is my friend.' They were attacking you and I figured you could use some help." Shinji answered, deciding to stick to short responses. Hopefully that would keep the inevitable questions at bay until he could convince her that he was not a threat. That's what he figured what went wrong earlier with the military he encountered. Appearing out of nowhere, spouting utter nonsense probably didn't lead people to believe that you weren't a threat.

Shinji knew in his gut that there was something wrong with that statement, but he was too tired to think about it in depth.

"And why were they attacking you?" There was a guarded tone that had been present in her voice throughout the conversation. In that last sentence it had ratcheted up to paranoid suspicion. Through long-ingrained self defense mechanisms, he knew that he'd have to step carefully to avoid trouble.

"I don't know. One minute I was talking to them—whoa! Let me finish!" He yelped as the red mech brought the gun to bear. Granted, he could easily defend himself with his AT field, but he really didn't want to upset the one person in this place that hadn't tried to blow him sky high on sight. Yet. "I didn't know where I was, I contacted them and they started attacking me. That's all I know!" He rushed out, trying to keep the hysteria from showing in his voice.

There was a long pause before the mech lowered its weapon. Slightly.

"And how did you get here without knowing where you are? Another thing you can't explain?" The incredulousness was dripping from her voice. Hell, if Shinji weren't already soaked from the LCL, he figured he'd be soaked by it.

Wait. That made absolutely no sense. Shit, he was tired. Still, he had to explain.

"Um, yeah. It actually had to do with…teleportation, I guess. I really don't know."

"Care to run that by me again?" Shinji sighed. Maybe he should have just explained it, crazy military types be damned. Then again he was incredibly short on time. On that note, how much time did he have left? He glanced at the power read-out and swore.

_Thirteen_ minutes.

"I was, uh, engaging an enemy and some sort of shadow appeared underneath me and sucked me in. It wound up sending me here. Okay?" He rattled out. He needed to get this solved quickly. He absently noted that the adrenaline was pumping through his veins again.

"Is this one of those freaky things it would take really long to understand? Like that AT field thing?" Shinji noted with a sigh of relief that the paranoia had left her voice. It was still guarded, but he could work with that.

"Yes, yes it is. Sorry." The gun slowly lowered.

"Alright."

"So, ah," Shinji started, hesitant to be on the receiving end of the gun. "What exactly is TERRA?"

"We're a private organization created to combat the Murian menace." She said with the air of someone reciting a memorized fact. _'That sounds like NERV. Wait, what's a Murian?'_ He vocalized his question, eliciting a very long pause from Hadhiyat.

"Are you serious?" She finally asked. "You seriously don't know what the Murians are?" When she received his answer in the negative, she laughed a little hysterically. "And how exactly do you not know? Or is this another one of those 'won't-believe-it-even-if-you-told-me' things?"

"Sorry. It is."

"Once we get the hell out of here, I really want to hear this explanation." She fell silent for a moment, before talking again. "Would you be willing to surrender yourself to TERRA?" Shinji blinked. _'What?'_ "At least until we ascertain that you're not a threat?" The other pilot clarified.

"Alright." Shinji said, hoping that this TERRA would treat him better than the military that he'd already encountered in this strange place.

"Oh, and to answer your question, the Murians are the ones who run this base and control the D-1s—the things we were fighting."

"Oh. Umm…how do we get out of here?"

"Give me a sec to finish up business here, Ikari, and we'll be on our way." With that, the red mech rose high above the Evangelion and swung over to the center of the camp. Shinji watched in awe as the gun snapped open to reveal several odd-looking rods that started glowing rather ominously. After a moment a burst of light blasted from it and connected with the ground. As a cloud of dust and flame plumed into the air, Shinji felt something shift. He couldn't place what though.

That was when he felt the cold coating him like a second skin. He grimaced as the feeling passed over him. If felt way too much like being submerged in the Twelfth Angel for his liking. Then he started as he realized that he was beneath the stars.

What the hell? Wasn't it mid-day just moments ago? What just happened? It was only when Hadhiyat responded that he realized he had asked that last question out loud.

"The Murians like hiding in trans-dimensional spheres." Shinji blinked.

"Huh?" He asked, not too brightly.

"Don't worry. I didn't get it first time I heard it either. They basically use a field to create a pocket dimension." _'Is that supposed to be an explanation? 'Cause I still don't get it._' The red mech flew down to eye level. "Alright, try and keep up. We're headed for the shore." With that Hadhiyat turned her mech towards her destination and started flying at a sedate pace. Shinji quickly ran forward and caught up with her.

"You can go faster, you know." He told her over the radio. After a moment she complied. As Shinji increased his pace to match hers, he asked the question that had been bothering him since he had heard about it.

"So, what exactly are the Murians?" After a moment, she told him.

"The Murians showed up around 2012 A.D. Nobody really knows where they came from, but I've heard a lot of people say they're from a different dimension. Sounds kinda far-fetched to me, but not much else makes any sense." Shinji frowned at this. People showing up from different dimensions would be a big deal. Yet he hadn't heard anything about it. Why?

"A war wound up breaking out between the Mu and us. I dunno who started it, but we wound up launching a nuclear strike against them. In response, they covered the entirety of Tokyo in a time-dilation field, just like the one I destroyed back there." Shinji nearly stumbled at hearing this. A war breaking out? Tokyo was _captured?_ But he was sure that Tokyo was destroyed well before then, in the aftermath of Second Impact.

What the hell was going on?

"Sorry, did you say _Tokyo_?" There was a pause before Hadhiyat answered.

"Yeah, why?" There was a cautious undertone to her voice that Shinji barely picked up on. Was she afraid?

"And it was captured when? 2012?" Fear was starting to amplify in his gut. Shinji had thought that he had been sent across the world somehow. But this…the only semi-plausible explanation was that he was somehow in another dimension. In Shinji's opinion, that was only plausible in Kensuke's wildest dreams. So what the hell was going on?

"…Yeah." Came the response. Shinji didn't notice, but her tone had lost its suspicious quality. He groaned and cradled his head in his hands. It would seem that the Kensuke-theory had gained much more credence.

"Have you…have you ever heard of Second Impact?" _'Please say yes. Please say it. Please. Please, please, please—'_

"No, I can't say that I have. Why?" _'Damnit.'_

"It—it plays a big part in the explanation that I owe you. I'll tell you later." Shinji tried to keep the growing depression from his voice. He didn't think he succeeded.

"…Alright. Anyway, so they managed to capture Tokyo in a time-dilation field. After they did that, they fell silent. No attacks, no troop movements, nothing. Hell, if it weren't for the Jupiter system, we'd probably have thought that they had left."

"Jupiter system?" What the hell was that?

"Oh, sorry. Forgot you didn't know. The time-dilation field looks like the planet Jupiter from the outside, so people started calling Tokyo 'Tokyo Jupiter.' The name stuck, and we started referring to the technology as a Jupiter system instead of whatever fancy name the scientists had dreamed up.

"So once the attacks stopped, we were left to pick up the pieces. Lotta people wanted to make the Murians pay for what they had done. However, after seeing what happened to a military spy-plane sent to check out what was going on in there…well, that idea fell out of favor."

"What happened?" Shinji asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I'll spare you the gory details, but the long and short of it is that the field distorts reality, and anyone who tries to cross it without the proper protection gets, for lack of a better word, shredded."

"Shredded?"

"Yeah. Trust me, you don't want to know more." She told him. After a moment, Shinji shrugged. He didn't have any reason to push the issue. "So, after a few years we managed to develop the technology needed to pierce the time-dilation barrier. TERRA launched Operation Overlord soon after." Shinji noticed that her voice dropped off as she mentioned the operation. He couldn't place it, but he knew that he had heard that tone before.

"It was a disaster. Barely anyone got out alive. And now we're trying a different method." Shinji realized where he had heard that tone before. He heard it each time Misato talked about Second Impact. It was with that thought that reality crashed down on him.

He was in what appeared to be a different world.

Since the Angel had sent him here, he probably couldn't return to Tokyo-3

He'd never see Misato again.

He shivered as if struck by a physical blow. Losing Misato was one thing he never wanted to experience. She had been the one to accept him when no one else would. She had _cared._ And if he believed what the Evangelion had told him, loved him as well.

'_Welcome home.'_

He'd never hear those words again. He'd never hear her morning war-cry…

Furiously shaking himself from his depressed thoughts, he wiped at his brow. Oddly enough, half-way through the run Shinji had started sweating profusely, which was made ten times worse by the LCL that forced the sweat to cling to him like a second skin. His legs ached, almost as if he was the one running. His lungs felt like they were on fire. And his bones felt like they were going to be crushed.

He shook his head and ignored the discomfort. After all, he could see the beach…and several odd looking cruisers.

"Alright, Ikari. I've radioed ahead and explained the situation, so they're expecting us. Just hop onto the cruiser all the way to the right." Shinji nodded and turned towards the ship in question, only to stop at the sound of Hadhiyat's voice. "Oh, and I'm afraid that you'll have to be under armed guard. Security protocols and all that."

"Don't worry about it, Hadhiyat. And thank you for doing this." Shinji then turned and proceeded to the ship that was pointed out to him.

"Don't mention it, Ikari." Shinji, focused on getting on the ship without capsizing it, missed the odd tone in her voice.

* * *

Disembarking from the Evangelion was rather anti-climactic. After having heard about the armed guard he was going to have, he honestly anticipated at least four guys in suits and shades. He couldn't help but stare at the single unassuming woman that stood on the deck waiting for him.

Oh well, at least all that discomfort faded when he got out of the Evangelion, even though his head still continued to throb absently and he still felt like lying down and sleeping for a week. But he figured he was still good enough to be escorted to wherever. With a mental shrug, he finished clambering down Unit 01 and greeted the woman.

When he saw the woman up close, Shinji started re-evaluating his opinion of her. She actually reminded him quite a bit of Misato when she got serious. Especially the look in her eyes that said clearly: 'do what I say and we'll be fine; cross me at your own risk.' The woman had dark, short-cropped hair, deep amber-red eyes, and wore a slightly oversized jacket. He noticed that her eyebrows rose as she got a look at him. He blushed slightly and cursed Dr. Akagi for making the suits so clingy.

"You know, for all that Elvy's been saying about you, I'd have expected you to be older." Shinji blushed slightly and ducked his head, mumbling a quiet apology. He grimaced as he realized that he was slipping into his old habit of frightened non-confrontation.

'_It's how you deal with the fear that decides whether or not you're a coward.'_

He took a deep breath and looked back up at the woman, who seemed puzzled.

"Only people my age can pilot one of these, miss…" She shook herself with a blush.

"I'm sorry, Ikari-san. My name's Shito Haruka." Shinji bit back a flinch when he heard her family name, before bowing.

"Pleasure to meet you, Shito-san." She smiled and motioned for the NERV pilot to follow.

She led him through the ship up to the helm of the ship. The entire time Shinji couldn't help but remember the last time he was on a military ship. Not that much was different. Kensuke would probably be completely stunned to learn that there were no fancy new developments in this area, beyond some sturdier doors.

Shinji jerked as a wave of nausea hit him. The room spun and his stomach clenched painfully. His head was pounding. Then the pain vanished as soon as it appeared. He came to leaning against the bulkhead.

"—kari-san? Ikari-san? Are you all right?" Shinji realized that the woman, Shito-san, was looking at him concernedly. He gave her a slight smile to try to tell her he was fine. Judging by the look on her face, he most likely failed.

"I'm alright, Shito-san." The woman still didn't seem convinced, but let it go. As Shinji fell into step behind her, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on. He was never the healthiest specimen around, but he never had sudden dizzy spells either. Was this an after-effect of whatever the Evangelion had done to him?

He shook himself from his thoughts as they reached the helm. He saw a large group of people crowded around the windows, trying to get a glimpse of something. He glanced at Shito, who smiled and shrugged, clearly as lost as he was. They stood there for a moment before Shito cleared her throat and the crowd turned as one.

Shinji felt a blush develop on his cheeks as all the eyes in the room were focused on him.

"Ah…H-hello." He stuttered out, before blushing even harder. Shito decided to have mercy on him and spoke up.

"Everyone, this is Ikari Shinji. It's thanks to him that Elvy got out alive."

A soft wave of murmurs rippled through the crowd. Then a woman stepped away from the crowd. In Shinji's personal opinion, the woman was gorgeous. And considering the fact that he lived with Misato that was saying something. She was gaping open-mouthed at him, disbelief burning in her eyes. "Ah, and this is Elvy Hadhiyat." The woman gave no response or acknowledgement.

Shinji shifted slightly from one foot to another as another jolt of pain shot from his skull. Trying to distract himself from the pain, he focused his attention on the other pilot. She was clearly Middle Eastern in origin, and her fragile-seeming features belied a fierce self-confidence. Yet Shinji could see it fleeing from her eyes as she stared at him. He felt a jolt in his stomach as he came to the realization that she was _shocked_.

'_I know I don't look all that good, especially with LCL still all over me.'_ He thought irritably. _'But still, I can't look _that _bad. I hope.'_ Recognizing that last thought as another remnant of his prior mindset, Shinji shook himself. He wanted to say something, but what?

With everyone's eyes on him, the courage he had managed to find within the Eva had evaporated. It took a supreme act of will to keep his eyes from staring solely at the floor. Even then they kept dipping down, keeping from making eye contact.

'_If you concern yourself only with how others see you, there shall be nothing to you. Just a void.'_

'_Easier said than done.'_ Kami-sama, he just wished that they could start over. He wished that he could just have wiped away whatever had made her stare like that. Hell, while he was at it, why didn't he just wish that he hadn't jumped into action so blindly against the Twelfth Angel while he was at it?

Maybe he could try and start again. After all, what else did he have to lose? _'Besides, it always works in the movies.'_ He thought with a dry chuckle. Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders and met eyes with Hadhiyat.

"Sorry, it seems that we got off to a bad start. I'm Ikari Shinji."

"Elvy Hadhiyat." She responded absently, her face not changing in the slightest. Shinji felt a brief pang of disappointment at the lack of reaction.

"Nice to meet you." Shinji bowed slightly to the dusky-skinned goddess. However, the woman didn't seem to notice as she was still staring at him in shock. He held back a grimace as his headache reasserted itself in the forefront of his thoughts.

After a moment, Shinji managed to bring his focus back onto the foreign woman. What the hell? If anything, _he _should be the one staring in shock at _her_, although admittedly living with Misato had managed to inure him somewhat to beautiful women.

Somewhat.

Finally Hadhiyat managed to find her voice. "You're just a kid…" Shinji nodded, recalling what Shito-san had said when she saw him.

"_You know, for all that Elvy's been saying about you, I'd have expected you to be older." _

Was that what she was so shocked about? Was it the fact that he was a puny boy of fourteen? He supposed it was rather shocking, but she didn't need to _stare_. The headache reared its ugly head again, and this time Shinji didn't manage to hide it.

The pilot staggered as he felt a stab of pain drive itself into his head like a rail-spike, coupled with an overwhelming case of vertigo. His knees buckled and bile rose in his throat. His vision faded, and the last thing he heard before everything went black was Hadhiyat calling for a medic.

--

A/N: So after (legitimate) complaints that the end of the chapter was too rushed, I went back and expanded what I could. Hopefully I pulled it off.

Previewed on The Fanfiction Forum; Thanks to Fatuous One, toraneko, SMWhat, and alansq.


	2. Realignment

Disclaimer: Still don't own NGE, but if I did then that whole Kaworu arc would be dust.

**Endgame**

_Realignment_

Kunugi was really starting to reconsider his decision to listen to Hadhiyat. To be fair, one of the Moons had been destroyed as a result of her plan. But he also had to sort out one of the most confusing situations he'd ever seen. Not to mention he had barely scratched the surface of all the paperwork on his desk from the afore-mentioned situation.

Yes, he most certainly wasn't going to be taking any more suggestions from the Indonesian pilot again.

He looked up as Souichi, his second-in-command, entered his office..

"Pardon me, commander. They've arrived." Kunugi nodded.

"Excellent. I want a full debriefing within the hour." Souichi bowed and left the room. Kunugi sat in his chair for a moment, staring off at the opposite wall. Then he shook himself out of whatever daze he was in, and placed the folder he had been reading back onto the top of enormous pile on his desk.

"Lets see how this goes."

* * *

The docks were a flurry of motion as men scurried over the convoy of ships that had just come into the harbor. 

Standing a few yards back, Kamina Ayato, pilot of TERRA's secret weapon RahXephon, shifted nervously on his feet. That shouldn't be too surprising, as almost everyone else was doing the same. But everyone else was worried about the unknown pilot that had been found. Now, while Ayato was worried about that, especially as Haruka was on the ship with the aforementioned pilot, he had more pressing matters to deal with.

Namely the fact that Quon had seemingly decided to glue herself to his side. Not that he had a problem with the younger Kisarigi. Hell, there were times he'd catch himself staring as she walked by. The problem was that Megumi, Haruka's temperamental younger sister, had noticed and decided to spend the last hour glaring at him, which confused him to no end. Why the hell would she be pissed off at him?

Ayato tensed up as he felt an arm wrap casually around his waist as a head of long pink hair came into his vision. Quon leaned back slightly to look at him. She seemed puzzled, but didn't say anything. Before he could ask what was wrong, he heard an angry scoff from slightly behind him. He didn't even bother to look to the source of the noise, as he already knew what, or rather who, it was.

Ayato sighed. He just didn't get women.

A shout interrupted his thoughts. He turned and saw a flash of purple. What the hell? All of a sudden Quon tensed at his side.

The 'Olin' looked down at the pink-haired girl. She had turned away from him and was staring at the convoy. At least, he thought she was. Her face was turned away from him and he couldn't make out any emotion she was feeling. Ayato turned his attention from the girl and back on the ships.

He could taste the anticipation in the air. There was another shout and the screeching groan of machinery. Then…something swung out from the center of a cruiser. 'That's a lot of purple.' Was Ayato's first thought as he saw what he could only assume was the mysterious mech that they had found on the mission.

He couldn't help but wonder what kind of fruitcake designed a mech to be purple.

* * *

Across the cosmos, Ikari Gendo sneezed.

* * *

Ayato was brought out of his musings by Quon's arms slipping from his waist. He blinked, confused. Often he had to do everything short of prying her off with a crowbar in order to get the girl off him. For her to let go… 

He turned, and looked at the pink-haired enigma. Her eyes were fixated on the mech. Emotions were running rampant in her eyes, to the point where Ayato didn't have a chance at identifying them. Her breaths were coming in short pants.

"Betrayer…" She whispered. Ayato frowned. 'What?'

"Betrayer…" She hissed, her voice growing stronger and harsher.

"BETRAYER!" Quon screamed, before spinning on her heel and running off. Ayato jerked in shock, before running off behind her, trying to find out what the hell was wrong. Soon both were out of sight, leaving only a confused and fuming Shito Megumi in their wake.

"Megumi!" Came a shout. The pink-haired girl stopped trying to burn a hole through Quon's head (even though she was no longer in sight) and turned to see her older sister rushing up to greet her. They embraced for a moment, before Haruka glanced around, puzzled.

"Megumi, ah…." She started, her voice wavering slightly. Megumi resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. Only one topic made her tough-as-nails sister waver.

"He was here, but Quon wigged out and he ran after her. Dunno why." Haruka's face cleared slightly. Megumi severely repressed a sigh at how much her sister was acting like a teenage school girl with a crush. It was pathetic, really. Even though Ayato's eyes were so inviting…

Megumi cut off that thought before it could turn into one of her usual sordid fantasies about the Murian pilot.

"I'm sorry I can't stay, Megu-chan. I have to go to a debriefing. We'll catch up later, okay?" Megumi nodded.

"Sure, sure. Now get moving!" Haruka ruffled her sister's hair and ran off. Megumi shook her head ruefully while she watched her go, before freezing. A gurney was being wheeled into the base, with a boy on it. She vaguely remembered hearing that the pilot had passed out at the helm. Did that mean that the kid on the gurney was…

No, it couldn't be. He was _way_ too young. There was no way someone would let him pilot.

Would they?

* * *

The first thing Shinji noticed was that his headache was gone. The second was the smell. It was lifeless and stale, yet familiar. It took a moment for him to place it as the antiseptic smell of a hospital. He slowly opened his eyes, wincing as they adjusted to the light. 

"Another unfamiliar ceiling."

Where the hell was he? Maybe, he thought with some hope, everything that had happened inside the Angel was just a dream- a hallucination. Which meant that he'd get to see Misato-san again. A small smile spread across his face at that thought. Although it would be a pity not to be able to see that woman, Hadhiyat, again. She was ver—

Shinji's thought process broke off as someone entered the room. He turned his head, expecting to see one of his fellow pilots, Dr. Akagi, Misato, hell maybe even his father. He definitely didn't expect to see a gray-haired man in a lab-coat.

Wait, lab-coat? Did that mean this man had been treating him? But only Dr. Akagi did that. If he was back home, and this man was treating him, then…

_'Oh God! Dr. Akagi's a trap!'_ Shinji then stopped and rewound that last thought. No way in hell was someone as fine as Dr. Akagi a trap. He sighed mentally.

Misato was right. That damnable website could rot your brain. Wait, if Dr. Akagi wasn't treating him, then did that mean that he hadn't returned home? He felt his stomach sink.

"Hello Ikari-kun. My name's Kisarigi Itsuki." Shinji smiled back as best he could, but his stomach was clenched in dread. "I suppose you're wondering what you're doing here." Shinji nodded quietly. "Well, as I'm sure you remember, you passed out on the bridge of the 'Over The Rainbow.' After that you were taken to the sick bay, but as they couldn't figure out what was wrong you got transferred to the hospital here in the base, where we diagnosed and treated you." Shinji's brow furrowed.

"A-ah…what exactly was w-wrong with me?" He stuttered out, still trying to get over the letdown of still being stranded, and truthfully more than a little disturbed by what might be happening to him.

Itsuki shrugged. "We're not entirely sure. I personally have never seen anything like it." At Shinji's pale expression, he waved a hand dismissively. "It's nothing serious. For the most part you were just physically exhausted—which is strange enough, but nothing to worry about. No, what's been puzzling us is the fact that you seem to have suffered from some form of psychosomatic trauma. We have no idea how, however."

Shinji blinked. And then blinked again. What the hell was 'psychosomatic trauma?' He remembered hearing Kensuke use that word once, but had thought the otaku had made the word up to sound smart. Again.

Seeing Shinji's confusion, Itsuki decided to elaborate. "Frankly, that term's the closest we can get to describe what's happened to your mind. Your brain seems to have…grown a cluster of neurons in the area commonly believed to be used for subconscious memory."

"Beg your pardon?" Shinji asked, rather nonplussed. Wasn't that how memory was usually formed? It wasn't until the doctor responded that Shinji realized that he had spoken out loud.

"Well, yes that's true. But it's normally a very slow process. However, in this case the development seems to have been sped up to an alarming rate." Seeing Shinji's face pale again, he tried to calm the boy with a smile. Judging by the continued look of worry on his face, Itsuki didn't do as well as he had hoped. Perhaps it was time to brush up on his bedside manner. "It's nothing serious. There was slight scarring in the tissue surrounding the new growth, but we don't think it will affect anything."

Shinji nodded for a few moments. It made sense. At least he thought it did. But what could have caused it? He voiced the question to Kisarigi, who simply shrugged.

"We're not sure. We do know that it occurred recently, though. Within the past day at least." Shinji stiffened, remembering something.

_"What's necessary, Shinji-kun. There will be many battles ahead, and you will need more knowledge than you already have."_

Was this what she meant? Just what had she put in his mind? Shinji shuddered as he tried not to think about how violated he felt. A cough from the pony-tailed doctor drew Shinji's attention.

"Um, looking over the results, there's something else that I was wondering about." He continued once he saw that he saw he had Shinji's attention. "There seems to be an unusual stimulation of your pain centers." Shinji briefly considered learning everything he could about biology. Then maybe he'd understand what the hell this rather effeminate doctor was trying to tell him.

"Uh, wh-what exactly do you mean?" He hoped the doctor didn't mind him asking too many questions.

"Well, in layman's terms, the pain receptors haven't been receiving stimuli from your body's nerves; yet they have been sending out signals from the center telling your body that it's in pain. Its very odd." Shinji frowned for a moment. Could he be talking about…

"Uh, I think I know what caused that." At Itsuki's interested look, Shinji elaborated. "I pilot the Evangelion through…uh…sync-synchronization, I think it's called. So I feel what it feels. Especially pain." Kisarigi's eyebrows rose at that. He started scribbling furiously on the clipboard he held. Shinji stared at him for a moment, unsure how to respond. The two stayed like that for a minute, and then the doctor ceased his feverish writing. He looked up at Shinji as if he just realized the boy was there, blinking owlishly.

"Ah, I apologize. Anyway, the other reason I came in here was to tell you that, assuming nothing comes up, you will be discharged in two days." With that he stood, bowed and left. Shinji sat there for a moment, staring at the door.

'What the hell was that?' The door had no answer. Shinji turned his attention back to the ceiling. He was definitely stuck here, then. He'd known it since the doctor introduced himself, and had been doing everything he could to avoid acknowledging it. But there was no distraction now. He was completely and utterly alone in a world not his own.

_"Welcome home."_

Damnit. He wanted to see her again. He wanted to see her if for no other reason than to thank her for taking in his pathetic hide. But she was gone. His sole source of comfort, the only person to actually give a damn was gone. He blinked back tears, trying to ignore the icy tightness gripping his chest.

Then, overwhelmed, he turned and buried his face in his pillow. For the first time since he arrived in Tokyo-3, for the first time since he started warring with the Angels, he broke down and cried. And a part of him couldn't help but notice bitterly that the one Angel that truly broken him hadn't even laid a finger on him.

* * *

Itsuki exited the hospital room, trying to puzzle out the mysteries the young Ikari had dropped in his lap. Complete mental connection with the mecha. How very interesting. 

"Well, well, well. I never figured you to be the bedside type, Itsuki." A voice called out, breaking him from his reverie. Itsuki turned and saw Isshiki Makoto leaning against the wall next to Shinji's door. His face was twisted into its usual smug impression, but his eyes were far colder and harder than Itsuki had ever seen before.

"Is there a problem, Makoto?" The 'White Snake's' smile grew more conciliatory and comforting, though his eyes darkened.

"Not really. He needs to speak with you though. Immediately." Itsuki nodded in acknowledgment.

"Very well. I will contact him as soon as I can." He then turned and made to leave. However, Kitsurigi found that he physically couldn't as Isshiki's arm was latched onto his elbow.

"He wants to speak with you now." Itsuki glared at the other man before pulling his arm loose.

"I have a meeting with the commander. I will contact Barbem after that." As the White Snake opened his mouth to protest, the doctor cut him off. "I'm sure that he'll understand as he was the one who assigned me here." With that he turned and strode down the hall, leaving Isshiki there to stare at his back.

"Don't be too sure." The pale man mumbled before spinning on his heel and storming off, trying to think of a way to explain this to his boss.

* * *

Yakumo Souichi stopped in the middle of the hallway of the hospital. He never really liked the hospital. It was far too depressing. Death clung to everything, even the lifeless smell hanging in the air. He shivered and tried to wrest his thoughts from such macabre tangents. 

Death lurking in the air around him was one thing he did NOT want to think about. Ever.

He looked at the folder in his hand. Souichi still had a hard time believing his most recent assignment.

Souichi would never be able to fully express how much that look irked him. Nor would he be able to describe his frustration with the fact that the look always worked on him.

"You tend to get people to open up to you fairly easily. If Ikari isn't a threat, he'll likely be cooperative. If he isn't, well then we'll call in the professionals." At the look of confusion on Yakumo's face, the Commander of TERRA elaborated. "I want to have him as an ally, Souichi. So I don't want to take risks by alienating him." Yakumo nodded to show his understanding.

"Is there anything else, sir?"

He sighed, and wondered for the umpteenth time whether it had been wise to tell Kunugi that he had majored in psychology before joining up with TERRA. Shaking his head ruefully, Souichi turned to the door on his left. He walked up to it and knocked gently before entering.

The first thing he noticed was the distinctly lifeless look in the boy's eyes. They were the eyes of someone almost past caring. They were the eyes of a condemned man. But what would prompt him to seem so…desolate? Souichi started when he realized that he was staring.

"Ah! I apologize. That was rude of me." No response from the boy. Souichi wasn't sure, but he hoped that a little life had flickered back into the hollow-seeming eyes. "My name is Yakumo Souichi. I'm here to, ah," he paused, hesitant. What would he tell the boy? "Well, no point in beating around the bush." He said, more to himself than anything else. "I'm here to ascertain whether you're a threat to TERRA." Beyond the glazed apathy apparent in Ikari's eyes, Souichi could see curiosity budding.

"S-sorry but, I-I turned myself in. Doesn't that prove anything?" The young pilot queried. Souichi, already deciding that honesty was the best policy, shrugged.

"Well, it does give you quite a bit of lee-way. However, there are a lot of inconsistencies in what we know, which disturbs a lot of the people in charge. So the best way to, well, clear the air I suppose, would be to tell us exactly how you wound up there." The boy peered at him and Yakumo couldn't help but mentally compare his actions with an animal's: cornered, hesitant, and cowered.

"I-it's a long story. Sorry." Souichi waved off his half-hearted protest.

"No problems. I've got plenty of time. And it'll be beneficial to you too. There'll be a lot less suspicion from everybody." He explained, to no real change from the boy. The second-in-command frowned at the lack of response. "You do want that, don't you?" He couldn't help but ask.

Shinji just shrugged listlessly, his eyes focused on his feet. Souichi gnawed on his lower lip, a bad habit he had picked up and always tried to stop. However he was too worried about the boy in front of him to notice or care. "Well, it'll be a lot easier on us too." He said, almost haltingly. He could practically feel the fragility of the boy in front of him.

Push too hard and he might shatter into a thousand pieces.

"Okay." The boy said—no, Souichi decided, he whispered. As if Ikari knew of his own fragility, and was unwilling to speak too loud, fearing that would provide the fatal push. Souichi braced himself mentally. Whatever had happened to this boy had been enough to turn him into a husk, a mockery of a man. Hearing about it would not be, in a word, pleasant.

He didn't know how right he was. After hearing Ikari Shinji's story, he had never wished to be wrong so hard before in his life.

* * *

Shinji stared at the ceiling, plagued with another bout of self-loathing. He couldn't help but notice, though, that this was different from his other moments of self-hatred. 

Initially this would come after doing something exceptionally stupid; like, for example, running away after the battle with the Fourth Angel. However, once Asuka had arrived in his home—yes, it was his home, he reflected, and not just Misato's apartment. Not anymore. Home was where he wanted to be, home was where he was loved.

_'Welcome home.'_

Shinji turned from this painful memory and returned to his musings. He wasn't denying the pain though. He knew he missed Misato more than anything. He knew that loneliness was clawing through his chest. He just…saw no point in thinking about it. After all, he had done more than enough when…

Shinji turned from that thought with another blast of self-loathing. He didn't need to think about that particular thought just yet. After all, he hadn't worked his way up to the main grievance yet. Couldn't go out of order now, could he?

Odd. He wasn't usually this sarcastic during these bouts. Perhaps there was an advantage to…what he had done.

_'So there's an advantage to breaking down and crying like a baby? Multiple times?'_ He thought bitterly. Then blinked as he realized that he sounded just like Asuka. He couldn't help but smile as he realized the advantage.

If he could still hear Asuka, be bothered by her complaints and goadings, when she was in an entirely different dimension, he might actually get over some of his fears. Just to shut her up.

That brought him back to his original musings. His bouts of self-loathing were remarkably few and far between, especially before coming to Tokyo-3. They had increased, yes, when he had arrived; but they had grown fewer in number as he grew acclimated to the place.

Then Asuka arrived. And Hell arrived with her. His moments of brooding then became a nightly occurrence as he lay in bed and stared past the ceiling, trying to see the cosmos and his part in it.

But this was different from all those. He felt…detached. Hell, he was actually able to think about something other than his moronic behavior that set off his self-loathing.

Speaking of which, he really should have seen something like this coming. He had felt his emotions, long locked away in the recesses of his own mind, surging to the forefront and gaining power with every syllable he uttered as he told his story to the man, Yakumo, who had come to 'interrogate' him.

Every moment he described of his life in Tokyo-3 cracked the floodgates a little more. He had done his best to skirt mentioning the purple-haired major in an attempt to prevent himself from breaking down into tears again. It worked, somewhat. He had managed to plow on through most of the story, but couldn't stop himself from remembering the times spent with her. And worse yet, he couldn't stop himself from remembering times that he should have spent time with her, yet didn't. Missed opportunities cycled through his head in a depressing tandem.

Yakumo-san would interrupt occasionally with a question or a clarification. But the questions never distracted him from the memories that ran like a railway train out of control through his mind. He had managed to retell his entire experience in Tokyo-3, with some slight editing in Shinji's attempt to avoid thinking about Misato, and reached the point where he arrived in this bizarre world. He had refrained from mentioning his 'visit' with the Evangelion unit, fearing that they'd think him crazy and lock him up.

Unfortunately at that point his self control had shattered and he had broken down in tears, right in front of Souichi.

_'Pathetic.'_

He had not cried in years before coming to Tokyo-3. Hell, he had not broken down even while he was in the seemingly Angel-infested city. But now he had turned into a blubbering wreck twice in a single day. He could practically hear Asuka's sneer in his mind.

Was he really so useless?

The answer was a resounding yes.

One of the few advantages that had come from his talk with Souichi was that it had given him something he desperately lacked: perspective. The entire time he had been living in Tokyo-3 he had avoided thinking about the long-term, about his purpose, about what he had done and why. All he had done was exist, drifting through his life. It was understandable, natural even. He had done so to stay sane, to keep his depression from swallowing him whole.

No. That wasn't all of it.

_"You choose to obsess over what everyone thinks about you."_

Shinji shivered as those words cut through him again. But things were different now. He could see, looking back on what he had done, the foolishness of his actions. He had walked through the world blind. And this was the result.

He had been spirited away; never to return. His stomach clenched as he thought that. Never to return. Never to see…

Shinji blinked away tears that were forming again. He took a deep steadying breath.

No more. No more crying, no more walking blindly through life, no more. He was going to find a way back to Misato, even if it killed him. And he was going to learn to fight—really fight, not this pathetic aping he had been doing.

Shinji blinked as he noticed something. It was probably the reason why his brooding had changed as well.

He felt alive.

Before, during his time in Tokyo-3 he hadn't cared about his life. He just drifted. Hell, he wouldn't have given a shit if he had died. But now things had changed. Now he wanted to win. He wanted to get back to Tokyo-3, kill the Angels, grind their bones into dust and dance upon their skulls. He wanted to go to Misato and kiss her till her toes curled, like he always heard about in romance novels when he overheard Asuka reading them to herself in her room.

He wanted to live.

But he had to find a way back first. He'd definitely need help, as he wasn't entirely sure how he arrived in this world in the first place. He knew that the Angel had done it, but he didn't know how.

The door opened, breaking Shinji from his thoughts. A nurse walked in and started checking the various monitors and instruments strewn across his room. After a few moments she turned to him with a smile in place.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Ikari-san?" Shinji blinked.

"Actually, there is something."

* * *

Elvy faced off against a sight that would crush a weaker soldier. 

Kunugi stared back at her impassively as she recounted what had occurred during the most recent mission.

"After several minutes of evading the D-1s, Ikari-san interposed himself within the fight and destroyed two of the D-1s. I was then able to dispatch the third. Afterward I ascertained that Ikari-san was of no threat to TERRA, and inquired whether or not he would be willing to surrender to TERRA. He complied and I brought him to the convoy where he passed out on the bridge." She finished calmly, staring at the blank mask that was the face of her boss.

"Pilot Hadhiyat. What do you know of Ikari's intentions?" Elvy blinked.

"Sir?" Kunugi frowned slightly.

"Do you or do you not know of Ikari's alliances in this conflict?"

"All I know, sir, is that he was ignorant of both sides at the beginning of the fight." She couldn't help but feel a spark of irritation as she saw the room tense up. Had they forgotten that he willingly surrendered? "However, he was actively fighting the D-1s the entire time. From what I understand, they opened fire upon him and he engaged in battle with them. However, beyond that I don't know."

Kunugi nodded. The door opened briefly and Yakumo Souichi slipped inside, a folder clenched in his hand.

"Yakumo-san. Do you have the report?" Kunugi addressed the younger man. He nodded slightly, and strode to the front of the room next to Elvy. The pilot herself turned and wordlessly took a seat.

"Ikari-san was rather cooperative, though what he told me is somewhat hard to believe. Although I can't think of anything else that would explain some of what we've seen." The lieutenant's brows narrowed as he leaned forward in interest.

"Like what things?" Souichi simply shrugged

"His unit, for instance. From what he told me, it's a form of bio-mechanical weapon. Alt—" His voice was cut off as a stunned murmur ran through the crowd. In the back of the room, Doctor Kisarigi jerked to attention.

"Bio-mechanical, did you say?" Yakumo nodded. Kisarigi settled back in his chair slightly. "Well, that certainly explains it." He murmured to himself. Kunugi frowned.

"Care to share with the rest of us, doctor?" Kisarigi blinked, clearly not having realized that he spoke aloud. Once that fact sank in, the doctor's face lit up in a bright blush.

"Ah, Ikari happened to mention to me that he controls the…mecha through 'synchronization,' I believe he called it. As far as I can tell, it's similar to how Kamina-kun controls the RahXephon." More murmurs swept through the group. "However, after reviewing our scans of Kamina-kun and comparing them to the one we took of Ikari during his convalescence, the only conclusion I can come to is that the…uh, 'synchronization' is heads and tails beyond Kamina's method of bonding with the RahXephon. What that implies, I'm not sure, but…" He trailed off before shrugging.

One of the higher-ups leaned forward, frowning.

"Are you implying, doctor, that this…'Evangelion' is tactically superior to the RahXephon?" The man was staring at Kisarigi, expecting an answer from him. However, Yakumo spoke up first.

"Hardly sir. The impression I got from the interview I had with him was that this 'synching' is more detrimental than anything else." At the officer's raised brow, Souichi elaborated. "Shi—Ikari mentioned that the higher 'sync rate' merely allowed him to feel exactly what his unit felt, especially injuries." Another murmur began, but was silenced as Kunugi leaned forward.

"As interesting as this is, we have more important matters to attend to. Your evaluation, Yakumo-san?" Souichi shifted uncomfortably. He really didn't like doing this, especially after seeing the kid have a nervous breakdown right in front of him.

"Ikari-kun…he seems—" He cut himself off with a sigh, before starting again. "Sir, Ikari is, for all intents and purposes, an untrained civilian." The murmurs simmering around the room exploded into a bonfire of shouts. It took Kunugi shouting to regain a sense of order. Even then the looks on many faces were disbelieving, untrusting, and mutinous. Kunugi looked to Souichi to continue. "Like I said, he's an untrained civilian. Therefore he was never ready for the pressures put on him. He," Souichi stopped again, searching for the right word.

"He is in a fragile state of mind right now. If he were to be forced into combat as he is currently, I'd rather not consider what would happen to him." Kunugi nodded his understanding. Another one of the officers leaned forward.

"Yakumo-san, I apologize for my bluntness, but I believe that we are overlooking something critical. Just where did he come from?" Yakumo found himself at the center of attention. Every whisper had gone quiet, every eye was upon him. Souichi sighed. This was going to be…interesting.

"Taking into account everything he told me, and from what we learned from a brief examination of the mech, we can only assume…" He took a breath and braced himself. "We can only assume that he is, in fact, from another dimension."

Total silence. There wasn't even a whisper. They stared at him, and he stared back at them. Finally the silence was broken by one of the officers, in the form of a booming laugh.

"Very good, Yakumo-san. Highly amusing. But perhaps you could tell us where he is actually from?" A blank-faced stare was the only response he received. "You…can't be serious?" There was no crack in his facial expression. "This is ridiculous!"

"Not as much as you might think, sir." Kisarigi's voice piped up over the general's protests. "First off, we have long postulated that the Murians arrived from a different dimension. Is it so hard to accept that this boy could not come from a different dimension as well?" The officer seemed thrown for a moment, before gathering himself.

"The Murians, I can believe. What we've seen of their technology supports this, and, frankly there's no other explanation for their existence. But one lost boy is rather hard to swallow."

"What about his mech?" Souichi piped up. "As far as I know, there's been no advancements in recent history that would lead to the ability to construct such a thing." The officer shrugged.

"So he's a Murian." This time Kunugi shook his head.

"No. The mech is nothing at all like any Murian technology we've found or encountered."

"So what, he just waltzed in from a different dimension?"

"No." Hadhiyat cut in. "He mentioned that he arrived there by accident."

"That's right." Souichi agreed. "Evidentially his government was dealing with some form of…well, I guess alien menace." There were a few skeptical coughs, to which he glared back. "As if trans-dimensional invaders sound any more likely." He chided them. "He was attacked, and…sent here." Kunugi nodded.

"That actually makes sense." He blinked when he realized that almost every pair of eyes had fixated on him with disbelieving stares. "We picked up a strange energy signal around the time that Ikari would have arrived. We were actually able to pick it up through the Jupiter system, as a matter of fact." All the eyes were still fixated on him, Kunugi noted absently, but this time they were all stunned. "So the theory of his origins seems likely, but it will be taken only as a theory until such time that we can confirm it."

The tone of his voice made it clear that the matter was closed. "Shito-san!" He barked out. The individual in question blinked and jerked to attention.

"Sir?"

"Front and center." She stood up and walked to the front of the room, confusion etched on her face. "Shito-san, I was under the impression that your orders were to take Ikari straight to the brig?" Haruka blinked for a second, then blushed.

"I know, sir. And I would have, but seeing Ikari convinced me otherwise." Kunugi arched a brow.

"Oh really? And exactly what 'convinced' you?" The sarcasm was dripping from his words.

"I had heard some of the rumors going around the ship, all of which were ridiculous. Some of them were dangerous. Truthfully, I was worried that a panic might break out on the ship. So I decided to show Ikari to the helm before taking him to the brig." Kunugi seemed unconvinced.

"And just what would Ikari's presence at the helm 'show'?" Haruka was tempted to merely shrug, but resisted.

"The majority of the rumors were banking on the theory that Ikari was a large brute of a man, one trained and skilled in killing." A sheepish expression flashed across her face before being replaced with a blank look. "I admit that I was one of them. And if it were true, if there were any problems he could easily handle himself. However, upon meeting him, I realized that if anything were to happen, he would be easily overwhelmed. So, for his safety as well as the peace of mind of the crew, I brought him to the helm." Kunugi sighed wearily.

"Shito-san, I agree with your decision. However, the fact remains that you acted against orders. I doubt that I need to remind you that we are a military institution, and therefore cannot afford any insubordination. Therefore you will be suspended for two weeks prior to a hearing. Understood?" Shito stood there for a moment, looking like her head had just been rudely introduced to a two-by-four before shaking herself slightly and nodding her assent.

"Very well." Kunugi's dark eyes swung over the crowd. "And I want to take this time to remind you all that if you have issues with your orders, that you take them up with your superiors, not take the matter into your own hands. Is that clear?" There was a chorus of nods. "Good. Dismissed!"

* * *

'_Damnit. Why is it that I can never find her when I want to talk to her?'_ Haruka mused to herself irritably as she wandered along the halls after the meeting. She had really wanted to talk to her Indonesian friend ever since the whole incident with Ikari on the helm. But no matter how hard she tried, the other woman couldn't be found! 

She ran her fingers through her short-cropped hair in frustration and strode down another side-hallway.

Nothing.

She groaned quietly. Just where did Elvy disappear off too? She wandered back to the main hallway and had a stroke of luck.

Cathy McMahon, a busty blonde and Elvy's fellow pilot, was standing in the hallway as well, looking as lost as Haruka felt. Shito rushed over to her, privately regretting not getting to know the other woman simply because it would make this a whole lot easier.

It wasn't that she didn't like the other woman. It was just…there was never any reason for her to befriend the blonde pilot.

"Cathy-san?" The blonde, who had her back turned, glanced at her and blinked in surprise.

"Haruka! What's up?" The dark-haired woman let the gaijin's poor manners roll off her, having spent far too much time with Elvy to even blink at it. Hell, she'd probably picked up some of Elvy's…what was the polite word? Lack of tact. She shook her head mentally, driving the thoughts swimming up in her head as irrelevant.

"I'm looking for Elvy. Seen her?" She sighed in repressed frustration as the blonde shook her head in the negative.

"Been looking for her since the meeting ended." Cathy shrugged helplessly. "Haven't got a clue where she is." Haruka nodded in commiseration.

"Yeah, same here." A slight pause. "Want to look for her together?" Cathy looked askance at her for a moment, clearly not expecting the suggestion. Then she shrugged again.

"Why not. Alright, where do you think she might be?" Haruka tapped her finger to her chin, pondering.

"Well…it is rather close to lunch, and I know that Elvy hates the food they serve on the battleships as much as I do, so she'll probably be hungry. So I say we head over to the cafeteria, and work our way from there."

"Works for me."

* * *

_'Should I ask her?'_ Haruka wondered quietly. _'She knows a lot more about Elvy than I probably ever will.'_ She reasoned. _'But still. It's not like I can just ask her personal questions about a mutual friend—no matter how badly I want to.'_ Her resolve set, she proceeded down the hallway alongside Cathy. 

Her resolve lasted all of five seconds.

_'Well, if I do it subtly, she'll never realize it, right? Right.'_

"Hey, Cathy-san…" She started out hesitantly. _'Screw it, just go honest.'_ "I was wondering about something that happened during the mission. Do you mind if I ask you?"

"Umm…" The blonde looked at her uncertainly. "I'm not really sure how I could help, but fire away."

"When I took Ikari to the bridge, Elvy…I dunno, freaked out? I mean, she was just staring at him until he passed out." Cathy blinked in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean she froze and just stood there, staring at him. He even tried to start conversation with her, and she kept staring." The blonde frowned thoughtfully.

"Uhh…I'm not—wait, how did she and Ikari meet?" At Haruka's confused look she elaborated. "I mean, what happened when the two met on the battlefield?"

"Oh. I'm not entirely sure, but I think that Elvy was pinned down by a D-1, which Ikari eliminated."

"Pinned down? Exactly how 'pinned down' was she?" Haruka paused to think about it for a moment.

"I'm pretty sure that if Ikari didn't step in when he did, Elvy wouldn't be here right now." She shuddered unconsciously at the thought of having lost one of her closest friends. "Hey, what's wrong?" Cathy had come to a full stop, and was rubbing her face with her hand. She sighed and looked at Haruka.

"I think I know the reason why she did that, and no, I'm not telling you what I think it is." She told the other woman, firing off the last part of the statement as she saw Haruka start to open her mouth. "Because if I'm right, this is something Elvy wouldn't want anybody to know about." Haruka looked at her for a long moment before nodding her assent. _'Well, I really didn't expect her to spill anything.'_ "And if I'm right, she won't be anywhere near the cafeteria."

That took Haruka by surprise.

"Then where would she be?"

"The hospital."

* * *

Elvy stared at her opponent. Her opponent stared back at her. 

Elvy kept staring, refusing to blink.

She had to beat this bastard and then…then what? Her stomach churned. What the hell was she supposed to do?

Her eyes narrowed. Had her opponent just taunted her?

The doorknob sat there innocently, as if it didn't know what she was talking about.

She sighed. Why the hell was it so damn hard to just walk through the damn door? She glanced at the name labeled on the clipboard hanging on the wall outside the door.

"Ikari Shinji."

Oh yeah, that was why. Because she had stood there staring at Ikari the last time she saw him. Granted, she was shocked that he was so young, but what she had done was completely inexcusable. Elvy didn't even remember blinking as she gaped at him.

She blushed in embarrassment as she thought about the atrocious way she had acted. And then blushed further as she remembered the way that suit…thing clung to his body, glistening with that golden…

_'Oh, HELL no. I did not just think that.'_ Unfortunately, there was no way that she could lie to herself about that. She had just had lustful thoughts about a fourteen year old boy. She groaned quietly. _'Shit. Cathy was right. Staying a virgin can drive you crazy.'_ She then shook herself, trying to cast off those thoughts.

_'I am not some freaky shotacon who gets her kicks with little boys. I am not Haruka.'_ After repeating this thought to herself for several minutes, she decided on her course of action. She'd walk in there, apologize for her rudeness, and then leave. As simple as that. Now all she had to do was enter the room.

Elvy stared at the doorknob.

The doorknob stared back at her.

Oh hell.

"Elvy!" It took every ounce of self control to keep herself from leaping half-way to the ceiling. Even then the Indonesian woman jerked violently. She turned, feeling oddly like the child with her hand caught in the cookie jar.

"Cathy! Haruka! What are you two doing here?" She inquired distractedly. She wiped her surprisingly sweaty palms on her corduroys.

"Just looking for you. Where were you off to?" Elvy's guts squirmed. She quickly cast her mind around for a plausible explanation for her presence without sounding like Haruka whenever Ayato was close.

"Eh, just wandering around." She normally wouldn't care, but if Haruka ever suspected that she might be interested in Shinji as more than a friend, the major would never live it down. And Elvy wouldn't blame her if she didn't. After all, she had given her friend quite a bit of flack for being a cradle robber.

But that did not mean she was willing to give out free shots to settle the score.

"Okay…" Haruka trailed off. "You doing anything now? I mean, you're not busy right?" Elvy blinked slightly at the question.

"No…not really. Why?" Haruka shrugged.

"I was planning to hit the bars to celebrate my two week 'vacation' and I wanted to know whether or not you wanted to come along?" Elvy glanced discreetly at the door one last time. Yes, she wanted to apologize to Ikari. But getting roarin' drunk sounded awfully good right then and there.

"Sure. Not like I've got anything else to do right now." Haruka beamed.

"Great! Hey Cathy, you want to come too?" The blonde blinked at the unexpected question, before declining.

"No, I'm fine. Oh, hey Elvy! Can I talk to you for a minute?" The Indonesian pilot nodded, and Cathy led her a short distance away from the other woman. Once they were out of earshot, the blonde turned to her friend. "Look, I don't know what you've got planned—and I really don't care what—but I want you to make sure you think things through."

"Huh?" Came Elvy's intelligent response.

"Things aren't always like in the books, okay?" Elvy's expression was the textbook definition of bewilderment.

"Wha…?" The bewilderment was beginning to fade, to be replaced with irritation.

"Look, just be careful, alright?"

"What the hell're you talking about?" Elvy hissed back, clearly frustrated. Cathy shot her a look, before slowly shifting her gaze to the door to Ikari's room. When she looked back at Elvy, the Indonesian woman had gone remarkably pale.

"Just think before you act, okay?" The blonde muttered under her breath. Then she brightened. "Oh yeah, I just remembered! The Squad's getting' moved to the same bunker. Here's the key to your new room." She handed the afore-mentioned key to the still-pale pilot. "See ya, Haruka!" She called out to Shito, before walking down the hall.

* * *

Upon entering his apartment, Itsuki was presented with a rather odd image. He knew that Quon had set her sights on Ayato, and truthfully fully expected to walk in one day and find the two of them on her bed. 

However, he hadn't expected to find Kamina staring, bewildered, at the bundled and twitching form of his sister lying on her bed.

He stopped, put down his briefcase, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes thoroughly. When he looked back, there was no change. He sighed in disappointment, which drew Ayato's attention.

"Itsuki-san!" The relief was visible on his face. "Thank god! I've no clue what happened—she just freaked out and ran over here!" Itsuki frowned as he looked over at his adoptive sister once more.

"What happened? And when did it happen?" Ayato shrugged helplessly.

"I'm not sure when, but we were at the docks waiting to greet everybody on the ship she just saw something, started screaming about a 'betrayer' then ran off." Ayato rambled, trying to tell the doctor everything that had occurred. Itsuki nodded attentively before putting his arm around the young man's shoulders, and—after thanking Kamina for his help and concern and assuring him that Quon would be fine—ushered him out.

The doctor was at Quon's side before the door had swung fully shut. He reached out and checked her pulse, trying to see what was wrong with her. He frowned a second later.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with her.

Well, physically at least. Then he heard her whispering.

"Betrayer…betrayer…betrayer…" Itsuki's frown deepened. That was what Ayato had told him she was saying when she ran off. Why was she still saying it? He saw her shiver and worry took hold in his gut.

She was afraid. Quon was afraid. That made absolutely no sense—she was never afraid.

He leaned over and kissed his adopted sister on the forehead, hoping it might ease her fears—if only slightly. Then he sighed and stood up. He couldn't help her right now, and there were more pressing matters to deal with.

It was time to contact Barbem.

He walked out of the room into his private study, and opened his laptop. His fingers dashed across the keyboard, opening files, starting programs, and making connections. A moment later the screen went blank. Then numbers began scrolling across the black LCD screen.

Then the screen flickered several times before an aged visage appeared. Ernst Von Barbem frowned at the young scientist.

"Doctor, before we begin, I want to make something completely clear. I am the reason that you are stationed there. I am the reason that the Original is stationed with you. Hell, doctor, I am the reason that you are drawing breath! So if I request a meeting with you, then I want to drop everything and come here. Do you understand?" He practically shouted.

Itsuki didn't know what to say. Count Ernst von Barbem, the leader of the Barbem foundation and his boss, was well-known for his legendary control of his emotions. Hell, the doctor himself had been witness to it numerous times. Yet to see him this close to going out of control…

Just what the hell had happened?

"And if you don't, there will be _consequences_. Do you understand?" Kisaragi jerked out of his musings and nodded sharply in agreement. "Now then, I understand that TERRA has acquired a new pilot." Itsuki frowned, both from the fact that Barbem seemed to know the inner workings of TERRA and the scornful tone that the old man had taken.

"I'm not sure if 'pilot' is the correct term, sir." He elaborated quickly upon seeing Barbem's frown. "The pilot of the mech we found is…mentally unstable, and currently unfit for battle." The old man sat up in his seat.

"What?...Describe everything you can about this pilot. Now." Barbem commanded. Itsuki sighed quietly, before leaning over and seizing the notes he had taken during the debriefing and shifting into a more comfortable position. This just might take a while.

* * *

Barbem ran his hand over his forehead, swearing under his breath. This was not good. 

"Listen to me, Kisaragi. You must keep this… 'Evangelion' from coming into use. Do you understand? It must not be included in the battle. Do whatever it takes to keep it from the battlefield." Itsuki nodded and reached over to deactivate the link. "**Doctor**." Itsuki glanced up at the old man. "**Whatever it takes**."

The gray-haired doctor nodded and broke the link. He then leaned back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling. How the hell was he supposed to sabotage a mech?

* * *

Shinji leaned back and sighed. A thick textbook lay open on his thighs, the symbols and mathematical equations glaring up at him mockingly. _'Maybe I jumped the gun a bit.'_ He glanced back down at his lap and the mocking mathematical riddles that lay jumbled in his lap. 

He definitely jumped the gun.

Studying college-level quantum physics books was probably not the best way to find a way home. Hell, he didn't even know whether or not quantum physics had anything to do with how he had gotten to this place. Damn Kensuke and his blasted otaku theories.

He closed the book with a sigh, pushing it aside and out of his mind. He'd probably have to start from the beginning. The EVA pilot groaned. _'This is going to suck.'_

He didn't have any other choice, though. He paused, eyes sliding over the ceiling subconsciously. No, that wasn't right. There were other choices. He could stay here. Hell, he could try to live a normal life.

It was actually pretty tempting, now that he thought about it. No more worrying about EVA, no Angels. Just him.

"_Welcome home."_

Shinji clenched his eyes. No, they weren't options. Not really. They were just distractions. He eyed the physics books lying on his bed. Almost hesitantly, he reached out and grabbed hold of it again. Maybe if he started at an earlier chapter?

The door swung open, and Shinji jerked in surprise. The nurse, who had brought him the books in the first place, flashed him a quick smile when she saw him with the text wide open on his lap.

"I take it the books are a help?" Shinji blushed slightly and nodded, keeping his eyes downcast. The nurse had been rather nice up until now, and he didn't want to irritate her by gawking.

"Uh, yes." He muttered. He missed the odd look that came over her face. Then she shrugged and walked over to the monitors by the bed, jotting down a few notes on what she observed there. Shinji eyed the book momentarily, trying to consider whether or not he was going about this the wrong way.

It might take _years_ for him to find a way home on his own. Years. And he wanted to get back as soon as possible. So what the hell should he do? An idea flickered in the back of his mind. It wasn't well-formed or planned out. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

TERRA was, from what he had heard, the leader of the battle against the Murians, much like NERV was the head of the Angel War. And if TERRA was anything like NERV, they would have they best of everything. Like scientists. Like scientists that could help get him home.

But why would they help him? He was just some pathetic little boy.

He was a pathetic little boy that could pilot a hundred-plus foot creation of doom and destruction, and _they_ were in the middle of a war.

Before he could lose his nerve, he turned to the nurse.

"Um, excuse me?" The nurse jumped slightly, before bringing her attention to the boy. His palms were sweaty and his mouth dry. What the hell was he thinking, trying to talk to the nurse about this? Like she didn't have anything better to do. Part of him, the part that had spurred him to talk to her in the first place, however figured it was too late to bail out without looking completely stupid. He might as well carry through. "You report directly back to the commander of TERRA, right?"

The nurse shot him a curious look, clearly wondering where he was going with this, before nodding slightly. "Could you d-do me a favor? Could you…could you tell him I'd like to talk to him whenever he has the time?" Shinji asked, stuttering slightly from nerves. The nurse blinked slightly and the EVA pilot dropped his eyes to the floor, blushing. _'Stupid stupid stup—'_

"Sure thing." Shinji's head jerked up, and he looked at her in surprise. She smiled slightly at him. "I'll pass it along." Her smile faded slightly, replaced with a sterner look. "Now you lie down and get some sleep." Shinji nodded slightly in agreement, before lying down. The nurse walked to the door, before pausing and glancing back at him with a slight smile.

"Night." With that, she flipped the light-switch, plunging the pilot into the darkness.

* * *

Haruka spat the toothpaste out into the sink, and rolled her shoulders to get some of the tension out. If Megumi knew that she had gone drinking on a Wednesday, she'd never hear the end of it. And that was if she didn't explain why she felt the need to drink on a Wednesday with work the next day. 

Of course, Megumi'd probably still go ballistic if she learned that Haruka had been _suspended_ for two weeks. The older woman briefly toyed with the thought of not mentioning the suspension at all, but quickly discarded it.

The dark-haired woman briefly lamented not being able to pry any juicy gossip out of Elvy about the young EVA pilot. The Indonesian woman was her usual chatty self about everything after a beer or two. But whenever Haruka tried to steer the conversation towards Ikari, she'd clam up tight. Athough…maybe she shouldn't have suggested founding a 'Cradle-Robbers Anonymous' group.

With that thought, the door swung open with a bang. A resounding yell rang through the house.

"Damnit, that bitch pisses me off!" Haruka rolled her eyes. Megumi was a sweet girl, really. The only problem was that she could work up a towering temper when she wanted to. Like right now, for instance.

Haruka walked from the bathroom to the kitchen, and started pulling out ingredients for a late-night snack. Seconds later Megumi stormed in and threw open the kitchen door. Haruka, well-versed in Megumi-tantrums, was already pulling out the chocolate syrup and a glass. Megumi straightened up, holding a milk carton, and kicked closed the refrigerator door. She set the carton down on the counter, took the glass and poured out half the carton into it. The pink-haired girl then snatched the bottle of chocolate syrup and dumped a liberal amount of it into the glass of milk.

Haruka waited until she had taken a swig of the concoction before asking the inevitable question.

"So who's pissing you off?"

"_Quon._" The girl pouted. "The octopus-girl was _all over_ Ayato. It was disgusting. She latched onto him three days ago, and probably still hasn't let him go." She took another swig of the drink. "And of course, _nobody_ says a thing because she's the oh-so-lovely _Quon_." She set down the glass and started pacing, running her fingers through her hair.

"It just drives me crazy how everybody just lets her do whatever the hell she wants! She's not part of the war, she's not part of TERRA. So why the _hell_ is she there?!" Megumi paused before whirling on her older sister. "Haruka! You could say something, right?"

Haruka blanched slightly. She was planning on telling Megumi, but she was hoping that the girl would have had more time to cool off.

"Ah…" Megumi saw Haruka's hesitancy and naturally took it the wrong way.

"Oh, come on! Don't tell me that you like her too!" Haruka blinked in surprise.

"No…it's just that...I'm suspended."

"Oh, well that's oka—wait, _what?!_"

* * *

"Okay, let me get this straight." Megumi started, pacing along the counter. "You hear all these rumors; go get Ikari; see he's a shrimp—am I getting everything so far?" Haruka hid a smile and nodded. She knew she shouldn't be amused, but it just was too funny. It was like…like…watching Napoleon trying to talk down a giant. It shouldn't be funny, but it is. "So you see he's a shrimp; figure if anything goes down and Ikari gets blamed for it, there'll be big trouble; bring him to the helm to get rid of the rumors; he passes out; and _you_ get busted for going against orders?" 

Haruka nodded wordlessly. "That's _bullshit!_" The older of the two shrugged, as if to say 'what can you do?' before finishing making her snack and walking off. Megumi, on the other hand, was still sitting there fuming.

There were two people at fault, in Megumi's mind. Commander Kunugi and this…Ikari. Both of them deserved a good reaming out, in her opinion. She couldn't yell at Kunugi, though. He was her boss, after all—the big meanie. But Ikari…Ikari's ass was going to be _her's_.

A sinister smile spread across her lips. With a skip in her step, she strode back to her room, waving calmly as she passed Kamina, who was bracing himself for an explosion from the pink-haired girl. When he realized what had just happened wasn't a delusion, he slumped against the door-frame in relief. He frowned as he realized something.

'

* * *

Nanamori never really liked being in Kunugi's office. It felt hollow to her, somehow. Like a bitter-sweet echo. And it always managed to remind her of the enormous distance between herself and Itsuki. 

"So, in conclusion, I would expect Ikari to be released sometime tomorrow." But those feelings never kept her from completing her job. Kunugi nodded. Nanamori briefly wondered exactly how he managed to make that single gesture a clear gesture of dismissal, before moving onto what Ikari had requested.

"Uh, sir?" Kunugi glanced up at her from the report he had been perusing. "Ikari wished for me to pass along a desire to meet the 'Commander of TERRA.'" Kunugi was silent for a moment, before Nanamori heard him mumbling something. Then he looked up at her.

"Very well. Tell him to come to my office at 10 o'clock sharp." She nodded and left the room.

* * *

There was truly nothing better than a bottle of beer, in Elvy's opinion. Except for maybe two bottles of beer. She tilted her head to the side, considering the matter further. 

Though she decided to call that one a tie when she walked into a wall. She peered at it blearily.

"Damn bastard walls jumpin' out at me." She mumbled under her breath, before continuing her walk. Soon she reached her destination and glanced up and down the hospital hallway. Kinda disappointing security, really. Then she shook herself. After all, who the hell was she to complain? If it was any better, she wouldn't be here right now.

Then she turned and glared at her one-time opponent. This time the doorknob merely sat there meekly. Elvy grinned. _'Finally give in, huh?' _She reached out and turned it easily. Her grin grew wider.

She walked to the bed, and stared at its sleeping occupant. She really…didn't know why she was here. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but now she wasn't too sure. Hell, she didn't know what to think about Ikari period.

He seemed like a sweet kid, really. He was pretty cute when he blushed, too. She frowned. She shouldn't think like that. She couldn't think why, though.

Just what was he to her? A knight in…purple armor? No, that wasn't right. And not even because of the fact that no self-respecting knight would wear purple armor. So what was he? According to _Yakumo_ he was an untrained kid stuck in a war-zone. But that couldn't be. No one would be stupid enough to throw a kid, especially a _civvie _kid, into combat.

And he didn't move like a civilian. At least not in that purple monster, he didn't. She really didn't see much of him once he got out of it, so she couldn't say.

So what was he? Her rescuer?

Ikari started tossing and turning, clearly in the throes of a nightmare. Elvy bit her lip. Should she help him? Part of her said no, that she was intruding already, that she should get the hell out of there. But another part, the part fueled by all the alcohol she consumed, screamed to take him, comfort him.

"No." He murmured under his breath. "No! Misato!" Misato. Someone he knew already. A girl he knew already, to be specific. Understandable really. He had to have had friends back from wherever the hell he was from. Perfectly natural.

Then why the hell did it feel like a punch to the gut, hearing him calling out her name?

Taking a shaky breath, Elvy stood and walked out the door.

* * *

Shinji had faced off against monsters. He drove with Misato almost daily. He had risked his life more times than he could count. So he found himself slightly baffled as to why he found the commander, Kunugi, so terrifying. 

'_Probably because he's my only hope of getting home.'_

"Ikari-san, I was informed that you wished to see me?" Kunugi inquired, seated behind his desk. Shinji said a quiet prayer of thanks that Kunugi wasn't sitting like his father. The EVA pilot probably wouldn't be able to handle it if he was.

"Y-yes sir. I would like to join TERRA as the pilot of the Evangelion." The silence that followed that statement was deafening. Shinji immediately began worrying that he had said too much.

"Beg pardon?" Kunugi asked neutrally. Shinji fought back the sigh of relief that was trying to leave him. At least the commander wasn't rejecting it outright.

"I'd like to join the war-effort against the Murians as the pilot of EVA."

"Why?" This question he was prepared for.

"I have battle experience. My unit is already constructed and ready to go, with minimal alterations—so there's no major draw on resources. And I was thinking…" God, this was so easy to plan out when he wasn't staring down the most influential man on the base. The recently-rediscovered impulsive side of him decided he had already stuck his neck out, might as well see if it would get cut off. Besides, he couldn't be as bad as his father.

"…I was thinking that you could help me if I help you." Kunugi seemed to stiffen somewhat. Fortunately he seemed more surprised and bemused than angered.

"Beg pardon?" Shinji shrugged slightly.

"I h-help you guys, you help me." Kunugi cocked his head slightly, as if mentally weighing the pilot.

"How exactly could we help you?" The weighing look had not ended. If anything, it had increased. Shinji felt like he was on trial, that his very soul was being examined. It took every ounce of his will to not turn and run. He took a deep breath and did his best to look the commander in the eye. He lasted ten seconds before breaking eye contact.

"I-I'd like to go home, sir." Kunugi didn't respond for a second. Then Shinji found himself on the receiving end of another of Kunugi's weighing glances. After what felt like an eternity, the commander spoke again.

"Truthfully, Ikari-san, I'd be honored to have you as a member of TERRA. But you must understand something before I accept you." Shinji felt his stomach drop. Had he gone too far? Had he demanded too much? "While I, and the majority of TERRA, would love to send you back to wherever you came from, the fact of the matter is that we are at war right now. That means we cannot afford to work on something that will not have a direct correlation to the war effort. So we will not be able to send you back until the war is over, and I cannot say with certainty when that will be."

Shinji didn't know what to think. On one hand, there was the fact that they would work on sending him home. But on the other hand, it could take _years_ before they would even _start_ working on it. His mouth was dry, and his legs rubbery. He took a deep breath before squaring his shoulders and looking the man in the eye.

"I understand, sir." A small smile quirked the man's lips.

"That's good to hear. The secretary has the keys to your new residence. She'll tell you where it is." Shinji nodded and turned to leave. "Oh, one more thing. Be here at 0800 hours tomorrow."

"Understood, sir."

Shinji glanced around his new accommodations. The only thing that stood out to him was the fact that nothing stood out. It was all very…bland. Although that wouldn't be surprising, considering that he was now living in the military barracks.

He briefly wondered whether the apartment his father originally intended for him to live in were anything like this.

The EVA pilot dragged those thoughts to a halt. _'Thinking about that won't do me any good. I can't focus on the past. Gotta look forward.'_ He tossed his keys on the desk at the far end of the room, and lay down on the cot.

'_Another unfamiliar ceiling.'_ Was his last thought before he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, folks. Let's just say I've been ridiculously busy recently, and leave it at that. 

And as for all those waiting with baited breath for more Kunoichi Returned…you're gonna be waiting for a while longer. It's gone the way of the dinosaurs.

Comments? Criticisms?


End file.
